Comments from the President

By: Thomas L. Armstrong, CPA, CFO, MSBO President, Business Manager, Fulton Public Schools

Following are excerpts from comments given by MSBO President Tom Armstrong at MSBO’s Annual Business Meeting held at the Amway Grand Plaza earlier this month.

I think that at the most basic level, what we do as MSBO members is we help each other. We are there for each other. And that is what makes MSBO unique and successful.

I landed my first school job in 1997 at Lakeview Schools. The Lakeview in Montcalm County. I had been on the job for a few moths went Dean VanZegeren from Greenville Schools called me. I had been in a few meetings with Dean but I certainly didn’t know him well. On the phone, he said that he was going to a meeting at Kent ISD that Friday and that I should come along. We arranged for him to pick me up and I attended my first of many Grand Valley SBO meetings.

I didn’t know it at the time but there was some serious institutional memory around that table. Jerry Hunsburger, Ron Nyenhuis, Glen Nienhuis, Debra Reese, Larry Cartwright (MSBO board member Kent Cartwright’s father), Tim Raymer, Doug Derks, and many others were there. How could I ever thank Dean enough for introducing me, a brand new business manager, to these seasoned professionals and potential mentors? The answer is I couldn’t. But what I could do is try to always be there for other MSBO members.

You don’t have to be brand new in schools to need help. At any stage of your career you might need help with your consolidated application, your worker’s comp audit, retirement rates or what to do with the plethora of paperclips accumulating at your desk. In my experience, if you need help and ask for help, almost any MSBO member will be willing to give you a hand.

With that, I want to thank you all for trusting me to help lead MSBO for the coming year. I am truly humbled by your faith and support.

Thank you.

Comments from the President

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