The Grandville Academic Team Boosters is a public charity, organized as a not-for-profit corporation in the State of Michigan. Our Board currently has five active members, including:

Doug Hepfer (GATB President and Secretary) - Doug is a partner at Deloitte Consulting. As a global consumer products consultant, Doug has worked with companies in dozens of countries to improve their effectiveness across sales, marketing, finance, human resources and supply chain functions. He has spoken at events around the world on the application of technology in office, distribution, and manufacturing environments. Doug has been active with several Grandville academic teams and is one of the founding Board members of the GATB.

Dan Hall (GATB Vice President) - Dan is Director of Sales & Marketing at Gateway Precision Technologies. He has helped develop and design custom manufacturing and distribution solutions for customers for more than two decades. Dan has been active with several Grandville academic teams and has had deep involvement with out FIRST Robotics program. Dan was a founding Board member of the GATB.

Paul Plotkowski - Paul is Dean of the Padnos College of Engineering and Computing at GSVU. Paul is actively involved with FIRST Robotics in West Michigan and is a key sponsor of the summer STEPS program which introduces sixth grade girls to advanced science and technology. Paul is a lead organizer of the West Michigan Regional FIRST Robotics Competition. Paul lives in Grandville, is passionate about our Grandville schools.

Chuck Parks - Chuck is President of Custom Electronics. Custom Electronics provides one stop electronic product development and manufacturing services. product ideation, circuit simulation, schematic capture, PCB layout, prototyping, and manufacturing services. Chuck develops and programs commercial robotics for a living and is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Chuck is in his second year of coaching a Lego League team and he is the creator of our RoboSaturday program for elementary students. Chuck generates many of our creative ideas for exposing youth to applications of science in the world around them.

Tim Purkey - Tim is an Assistant Superintendent of Grandville Public Schools. Tim has many years of experience with academic teams in Grandville and provides a tight connection between the school district administration and staff and the Academic Team Boosters.