News & Blog: Advocate Spotlights

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Mr. John C. Kennedy, President/CEO of Autocam Medical, is known as a creative and savvy businessman who often works alongside national business leaders and elected officials. Yet there is one other thing that everyone knows about Mr. Kennedy: he has a deeply personal passion for literacy as it relates to equity.

“John and Nancy see literacy as an issue of equity and social justice,” says GRPS Superintendent Teresa Weatherall Neal. “The intensive literacy programs that they created in GRPS are giving our students with the highest risks the tools and hands-on support they need to read at or above grade level.”

John’s commitment to social justice is deeply rooted in his Catholic faith. “John’s faith drives everything from his business practices to his philanthropy and volunteer activities,” writes his good friend Brian Cloyd. John and his wife, Nancy, “are the ultimate servant leaders in our community.”

In addition to his business efforts, Mr. Kenney is also a founder the GRPS University Preparatory Academy and currently serves as a Trustee of Grand Valley State University. In 2015, he was appointed by Governor Snyder to lead the Governor’s Third Grade Reading Workgroup, which suggested policy to improve the reading proficiency of Michigan’s children.

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