What a great event! Thank you so much for attending the 2017 Excellence in Business Dinner Gala and celebrating the 20th anniversary with us! We hope you enjoyed honoring the 2017 Peter C. Cook Excellence in Business Award recipient, Dan DeVos, and the play by play Q&A session with Joe Montana. Your generosity and support will provide countless scholarship opportunities for future Davenport University students!
Dan DeVos is Chairman/CEO of DP Fox Ventures, LLC, a diversified management company with interests in real estate, transportation and sports and entertainment. He was with Amway Corporation from 1980-2000 in a variety of capacities including VP-Pacific and VP of Corporate Affairs. DeVos currently serves on Alticor’s Board of Directors and is a member of their Audit Committee.
In real estate, DP Fox has various projects in Michigan and The Bahamas. In the business of sports, DeVos is Chief Executive Officer of the Grand Rapids Griffins of the AHL and Chairman of the Orlando Magic of the NBA. In Michigan, DP Fox also owns and operates Fox Motors and Fox Powersports, retail automotive and powersports groups representing 41 manufacturers at 28 locations in Michigan and the Chicago area.
Much in keeping with the community-focused commitment of his parents -- and the entire DeVos family – Dan, along with his wife Pamella, have worked hard to give back to West Michigan during the past two decades.
Widely considered the best NFL quarterback of all time, Joe Montana personifies performance excellence and personal integrity both on and off the field. Yet the word most closely associated with him is not winner — it's leader.
Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers won four Super Bowls and were the team of the 1980s. What they accomplished in football may never be equaled. Montana won more than 70 percent of the games he started during his 16-year career with the team and he is the all-time NFL Leader in quarterback ratings. Known for his agility, his vision, his extreme accuracy as a passer, and his capacity to retain and act upon staggering loads of information, Montana's excellence as a player is legendary.
He is one of the toughest quarterbacks ever to play the game and his trademark was unflappable poise in the clutch. "Joe Cool," as he was sometimes tagged, played with the same calm determination whether it was a scrimmage or the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.
Twice named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, Joe led the 49ers to four Super Bowl wins, earning three Super Bowl Most Valuable Player awards. He was selected to eight Pro Bowls and named All-Pro five times. Joe retired from professional football in 1995 and in recognition of his achievements, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
He now brings his lessons of preparation, teamwork and performance under pressure to large and small business audiences as a popular motivational speaker. Montana also teamed up with performance coach Tom Mitchell to write a book, The Winning Spirit: 16 Timeless Principles That Drive Performance Excellence, which was released in September 2005.
