Griffin Technology founder again CEO as exec returns to campus
Milt Capps UPDATED 12:05 P.M.
Griffin Technologies Founder Paul Griffin is once again CEO, as well as president, following David Owens' return to his former faculty position at the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University. Owens held the CEO post about a year, after the founder relinquished the title for the first time in the company's history.Owens told VNC this morning he is still unpacking after what turned-out to be a leave of absence from the Airline Drive-based accessory maker, the company that bills itself "the creator of all things iPod and iPhone." Reflecting on the Griffin stint, Owens said he came to believe that, given his own "brain wiring," he would find it difficult to "construct a whole life" in such a fast-moving business with "a lot of moving parts," resulting in heavy emphases on operations management, finance, supply chain and other fundamentals. Among lessons learned during his tour at Griffin, Owens offered as an example his deeper understanding of the role of "The Buyer" in companies served by Griffin, as well as Owens explained during a February interview that during his first 90 days at Griffin he had worked to nurture the company's established creative culture, while introducing organization and communications changes to enable the company to operate on larger scale. Prior to joining the company, Owens worked as a Griffin researcher and a consultant to Griffin, which Paul Griffin founded in 1992. The company is believed to have about 150 employees, most of whom work in Nashville. ♦
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