Stephen (Steve) Griffin was appointed to the Board of Trustees by the NC General Assembly in September 2023 to serve a four-year term.
He is the Chair of the External Affairs Committee, and a member of the Educational Planning and Programs Committee and Executive Committee.
Griffin has been an independent insurance agent since 1985. He is actively involved in the community, serving on boards and committees of local organizations and nonprofit. Griffin has been a member of the Homebuilder’s Association of Durham, Orange and Chatham counties, where he has been a member of the Board of Directors since the late 1980's.
Griffin is also a member of the Governmental Affairs Committees of the Independent Insurance Agents of NC and the NC Restaurant and Lodging Association and the Friends of Durham Steering Committee. He was previously a founding board member of the Lincoln Community Health Center Foundation and served on the boards of the Durham Jaycees and Reality Ministries. Griffin is also a past vice chair and board member of the Durham Interfaith Hospitality Network Board (known today as Families Moving Forward), which serves homeless families and underprivileged children. Griffin, an advocate for education, served on the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina School of Science & Mathematics from 2013 – 2021. His company, Insurance People, is one of the largest writers of private and charter schools in the Southeast.
Griffin is the past chair of the North Carolina Education and Workforce Innovation Commission, which grants over $2 million annually to fund innovative vocational programs. An advocate for school choice, Griffin was involved in the statewide movement to bring charter schools to North Carolina. He will serve on the External Affairs and Educational Planning and Programs committees of the UNCW Board of Trustees.
As an undergraduate student at UNCW, Griffin assisted with building a social fraternity and served in a leadership position for the Student Government Association.