CAREER
Michael began his career in advertising and marketing after graduating in 1995 from the internationally recognized Missouri School of Journalism where he received a bachelor’s degree in journalism with an emphasis on magazine design and management. From there, he received a master’s degree in Media Management from Webster University, and served as the Director of Corporate Communication for Sanford-Brown College, a five-campus, privately owned company in St. Louis.
Michael was quickly recruited as the National Director of Marketing by Whitman Education Group, a publicly held, $200 million education company that acquired Sanford-Brown College in the mid 1990s. In this role, Michael served 23 schools across the country.
Eager to support additional companies with his unique abilities in direct response advertising, Michael joined Datamark Inc., the then largest U.S. advertising agency serving the career school industry. Michael served as the company’s director of media operations and later became the second largest grossing sales executive in the company, responsible for serving the needs of one of the largest publicly held school groups in the country, Career Education Corporation (CEC).
Michael left Datamark on favorable terms to pursue individual interests, including minority ownership in six small companies ranging from a media fulfillment business to medical career training schools to a national, personal self-defense and fitness company.
Wanting to resume his career school marketing and advertising efforts, Michael joined forces with longtime friends and mentors to create a special, boutique-style advertising agency for the education industry called EdExperts. Today, Michael spends his time supporting various business interests and his non-profit and philanthropic efforts.
INTERESTS
Outside of the office, Michael enjoys hunting and boating at the Lake of the Ozarks. He has gone on several trophy hunts, including a trip to southern Missouri (for Russian Boar), the Wasatch mountain range near Preston, ID (for mountain lion and moose), Southwest Alabama (for whitetail), and most recently Louisiana (for American Alligator). A supporter of gun ownership rights, personal self defense, and fitness, Michael has taken a personal initiative to provide communities with information about safeguarding their families and schools from domestic and foreign terrorist attacks through his non-profit organization, The Sheepdog Society.
FAMILY
Michael was born in west St. Louis County to Sharon and Pat Griffin. Michael has two older siblings, Mark Griffin, who is currently a police lieutenant for an area municipality, and Shari Griffin Lumley, a homemaker and busy mother of four children. Michael lives in Kirkwood, Missouri with his family.