Paul Griffin and his 42 years with Doble
It’s with bittersweet feelings we announce that after 42 years with Doble, Paul Griffin, our Vice President of Consulting and Testing Services, retired at the end of December.
Paul worked for Doble since 1978. He started in the trenches as a chemist and has since played an instrumental role in making Doble the company it is today. He leaves quite the legacy, filled with many noteworthy accomplishments, accolades and fond memories. Paul will surely be missed, but we’re excited for him as he embarks on this very well-deserved permanent vacation, which we suspect will be filled with tennis!
At Doble, we like to celebrate the people who have made our company great. In that spirit, here’s a quick look at the impact Paul has had on Doble and our industry over the course of his career – it was certainly hard to narrow down the list.
“A Once-in-a-Generation Type of Mind”
Paul’s impressive breadth of knowledge and memory of an elephant made him a go-to resource for any and all testing and diagnostic information, both within Doble and externally. Although he started his career as a chemist, Paul impressively married chemistry with the engineering, electrical and forensic sides of the business – and he was always eager to share that knowledge, making sure everyone on his team and beyond had access to the same information and opportunities as he did in his career.
Paul’s coworkers consistently described him as the ultimate professional. Supportive, even keeled, and tremendously hard-working, Paul’s positive attitude was contagious. He was a fantastic boss, always honest and committed to helping his employees grow professionally and creating safe spaces for his team to learn and take risks. Paul’s leadership style undoubtedly had a tremendous impact on Doble’s company culture and positive work environment – two things we are very proud of to this day.
Putting Doble on the Map
Paul played a major role in making Doble the world-renowned organization it is today. Here are just a few highlights:
- Growing Doble’s reputation within the industry. Since Paul started in laboratory services back in the ‘70s, he published over 50 technical papers pertaining to testing of electrical insulating materials and apparatus diagnostics. These papers raised Doble’s profile within the industry and set us apart from our competitors. His detailed, scientific-based and straight-forward approach to the writing and independent voice solidified Doble’s position as the leading provider of power grid diagnostics. Additionally, Paul was a recipient of the ASTM Charles A. Johnson Award and the ASTM Award of Merit, once again strengthening his credibility in the industry. Paul also played a key role in expanding Doble’s lab services, which global customers have come to rely on, with the establishment of four new laboratories.
- Relentless commitment to customer value and success. Paul always made sure to develop and offer solutions that truly met customer needs, while also making good business sense for Doble. This responsiveness to customers’ needs is a big reason why Doble is viewed as a trusted partner. The condition assessments we perform today stemmed from Paul identifying a customer’s need to evaluate a transformer. That first assessment took quite a bit of time to put together, but is now a key Doble offering and can be conducted on large fleets. Paul also created the oil diagnostics seminars that we regularly run today. It all started with him helping one customer train their employees to understand testing results, and now, it’s one of our standard educational services.
- Building Doble’s global footprint. Over the course of his career, Paul traveled to Ukraine, Russia, China, India, Brazil, various countries in Europe, and South Africa where he not only helped initiate business in the South African office, but also grew our business world-wide. Perhaps most notably, Paul secured and managed Doble’s relationship with National Grid Saudi Arabia during the largest services project – a transformer fleet assessment — in our company’s history. Paul also played a pivotal role in developing the services team based in Saudi Arabia and initiated a big oil analysis project in Bahrain almost two decades ago and that same project remains active today.
Continuing the Legacy
While Paul certainly leaves us with big shoes to fill, we are committed to continuing his legacy. He has instilled his work ethic and quest for constant learning in all that have had the pleasure to know him and work with him.
We will miss our dear friend, colleague and mentor, Paul Griffin.
Congratulations, Paul on your retirement!
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
- Blog: 100 Years of Doble: A Look Back at the Company’s Most Significant Moments
- Doble Transformer Consulting Services
- Doble Laboratory Services
