IMSA Board of Trustees Elects Griffin New Chairman

For Immediate Release, October 2001
For comment, contact Brenda Buschbacher at (630) 907-5033


AURORA- The Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) Board of Trustees has elected St. Charles resident Sheila MB Griffin as its new chairman.

Nobel Laureate and IMSA Resident Scholar Dr. Leon Lederman, who is also a founding member of the Board, said that Griffin's leadership comes at a crucial time in IMSA's history.

"I am delighted that Sheila Griffin will chair the IMSA Board," Dr. Lederman said. "As has been stressed often by President Stephanie Pace Marshall, IMSA, in its 15th year, faces crucial challenges in the need to lead the state and the nation in the education of future scientists and in the public understanding of science. Sheila knows the traditions and has the formative experiences which will serve this unique institution well," he said.

Griffin, former Vice President and Director of the Strategic Marketing Office at Motorola, recently retired after a 22-year distinguished global career. Griffin is currently president of Griffin Holdings, a strategic and marketing consulting firm for start-ups and established businesses.

Griffin has served the State of Illinois for 16 years. In 1985, she was appointed by Governor James Thompson as a founding trustee of the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy. Since then, Griffin has served on the Board's Technology Subcommittee, Personnel Committee and Executive Committee, a position she continues to hold today. She was reappointed to the IMSA Board in 1995 by Governor Jim Edgar, in 1999 by Governor George Ryan and was elected vice chairman in March 1999.

One of Griffin's accomplishments is to have instigated and led Motorola's successful relationship with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab in Cambridge, MA, over the past seven years. Nicholas Negroponte, chairman of the MIT Media Lab, praised Griffin's innovative leadership.

"Sheila created a veritable collaboration between two very different work styles, capitalizing on the differences and inspiring new ideas that would have never come out of either institution alone," Negroponte said.

IMSA is a learning enterprise that builds the capacity of students, teachers and policymakers to transform mathematics and science teaching and learning. IMSA's residential program is designed for talented students (grades 10-12); its professional development Center serves schools, educational systems, teachers and students in Illinois and beyond. Visit IMSA at wwwimsaedu.