SEA ISLAND – This essay could easily be found in the sports pages
in that Bill Griffin’s affiliation with golf has critically enhanced and advanced
his business career. Golf has been the perfect vehicle in his life to search
for a deal, close one, or to cultivate and perpetuate professional
relationships that have made him very successful.
He has added his own imprint which falls into the especial category.
He may be the world’s greatest gentleman. His downhome qualities—he
grew up in Rutledge, Georgia—have been treasured companions since he
was graduated from the University of Georgia’s Terry College of Business
in 1972.

His post-graduate addresses over the years have included Atlanta,
Chicago, Los Angeles, and Dallas. He and his wife Lynn, an Athens
native, ultimately landed in Pittsburgh where they raised their family.
Pittsburgh was still “steel town” when he arrived. He became a fan of
the Steelers and the Pirates, but Georgia was always on his mind.
Whenever possible, he returned home to take his place in Sanford Stadium
with a passion for the ‘Dogs that began when he sat in the student section
with his Alpha Tau Omega fraternity brothers on Saturday afternoons.

As his career advanced, he embraced golf for recreation, health, and
business enhancement and opportunity. As a kid, he learned the game at
the nine-hole Monroe Country Club. He became an excellent golfer. In
college he played at the Athens Country Club, always giving this Donald
Ross layout the highest praise as a golfing layout. It remains one of his
favorite golf courses. He has played them all from Pebble Beach, Cypress
Point, Winged Foot, Medinah, Torrey Pines, to all the Golf Digest top rated
courses where the United State Golf Association has organized countless
championship events.

When he settled in Pittsburgh, he was invited to join Oakmont, where
the U. S. Open has been played more times than at any other U. S. course
which is nine times with a tenth being added to the club’s resume in June.
If you are familiar with what usually takes place at those high-end
clubs across the country, you find that members who become president
only serve one term which is a year. Bill Griffin was re-elected president six
consecutive years at Oakmont. That must be some sort of record. I would
venture that it is most likely to happen to a small-town boy with Southern
manners and extraordinary leadership skills.

One of his redeeming qualities is that he is fiercely loyal to his old
friends, especially those he grew up with in Morgan County. He enjoys
returning home to Rutledge and Madison and playing a round of golf with
his buddies from high school or meeting up with them somewhere for
dinner.

Fraternity brothers, friends from college, University of Georgia
officials and alumni—if you are a friend of Bill Griffin’s, you are a friend for
life. When he was invited to join the Augusta National Golf Club, the first
time he was permitted to take overnight guests, he invited three of his high
school buddies as his guests.

They had become passionate Masters fans who slept in their car at
the Piggly Wiggly shopping center across the street from the famous golf
club, freshened up at a service station in the morning and hit the golf
course to follow Arnold Palmer. His story had the happiest results. He is a member of several prestigious golf clubs and Arnold Palmer became a friend with whom he played several rounds of golf prior to Arnold’s death in 2016.

His top priorities in life are family, business, UGA, and golf. With
three kids and five grandchildren, Bill and Lynn can’t wait for the next family get-together. He now is chairman of ServiceMac, the nation’s fastest-growing subservicing company providing mortgage serving support to
lenders and investors nationwide. He co-founded the company and
recently helped its sale to First American Financial, a Fortune 500 services
firm.

His business affiliation has him constantly traveling but he finds time
to volunteer for UGA for which he holds the highest regard. He has been a
key fundraiser for his fraternity, the Terry College of Business, and provided
key leadership in the effort to name the indoor football facility for Billy
Payne, former Bulldog letterman and Chairman of the Augusta National
Golf Club.

He has been closely involved with the fundraising efforts for Steve
Stice, a UGA scientist who is a leader in the development of neural exosome-
based therapeutics for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. Bill is
chairman of Aruna Bio, an Athens-based biotech company which raises
funds for Stice’s research. Additionally, he co-chaired the fund-raising
campaign to name the Honors College for UGA President Jerry Morehead.

Paraphrasing John F. Kennedy’s remarks at his inaugural address, Bill
Griffin’s mantra is: Ask not what your university can do for you, ask what
you can do for your university.