YOUR BUSINESS AUTHORITY

Springfield, MO

Log in Subscribe

2013 Men of the Year Honoree: Conrad Griggs

Posted online
Conrad Griggs has worn many hats during his career: police officer, city councilman, youth basketball coach, financial adviser, military lieutenant colonel and bank officer.

From early on, he found he was the one standing up in a crowd to make a voice heard.

“Early in my career as a Springfield Police officer, I debated the merits of supporting a quarter-cent sales tax for law enforcement before a crowded room of Jaycees, along with the mayor and city manager,” Griggs recalls of his four-year stint through 1972. “I received a standing ovation at the conclusion of my speech and we received the Jaycees’ endorsement.”

Griggs went on to receive the Springfield Jaycees’ Outstanding Young Police Officer of the Year in 1969.

He left law enforcement to pursue financial services, working in roles with Mutual of Omaha, Edward Jones and Merrill Lynch, where Griggs retired after 26 years in 2005. He was hired by the Bank of Missouri in 2009 and currently serves as the Perryville-based bank’s business development officer for the Springfield area. Since entering the Springfield market in 2006, the Bank of Missouri now operates five area branches and another in Branson, holding more than $111 million in deposits as of June 30, 2012, throughout the Springfield metropolitan statistical area, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Griggs has influenced community and economic development in a variety of ways – from ushering in a vicious-dog ordinance during the second of two terms on City Council to leading collaboration between two universities, a neighborhood association and the city of Springfield to make improvements in the area south of Grand Street between National and Kimbrough avenues. As a councilman in the 1990s, Griggs helped bring together Missouri State University, the Phelps Neighborhood Association, the city of Springfield and Drury University architecture students to put a stop to deteriorating property values near the MSU campus.

“What you see today cost the taxpayers and the university a combined $2 million, but the positive economic impact was significant for all parties,” he says.

As a councilman for 11 years, 1992–99 and 2003–07, Griggs also was instrumental in multiple committees, serving as chairman of the plans and policies, public involvement and two tax increment financing committees. He also served on the police/fire pension fund review committee.

Yet Griggs says his strongest leadership test was an unsuccessful run for Greene County presiding commissioner in 2010.

“The principal ingredient in running a campaign is leadership. You have to organize a team that believes in the same ideals you do and are willing to give of their time and money,” he says. “Convincing people of your platform to the extent they will financially invest in your campaign is very humbling.”

A retired military police commander in the Missouri National Guard, Griggs earned a bachelor’s degree in history and sociology in 1972 from Drury University and returned to school to earn a master’s in religious studies in 2009 from MSU.

He’s a volunteer and member of the city’s Vision 20/20 plan and a founding board member of Operation Us, a nonprofit program designed to promote healthy marriages and teach parenting skills.[[In-content Ad]]

Comments

No comments on this story |
Please log in to add your comment
Editors' Pick
From the Ground Up: Republic Intermediate School

The Republic School District is on track to open its Intermediate School for fifth- and sixth-grade students for the 2025-26 academic year.

Most Read
Update cookies preferences