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Spotlights » Bruce Lyon, '95
Bruce Lyon is a professional motivator. He graduated from Grand Valley State University with a bachelors degree in hospitality and tourism management in 1995. As the director of operations at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel in Grand Rapids, he spends most of his workday making sure almost every department is running smoothly.
"A lot of my day is spent as a cheerleader and a psychologist," said Lyon.
As a senior at Rockford High School, Lyon thought he had his future planned.
He would attend the University of Michigan and become an architect. His dream changed when he discovered the fast paced, ever evolving atmosphere of the hotel business. After high school Bruce started working at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel to help make ends meet, as a second shift housekeeping supervisor.
While working 40 hours a week, he attended Grand Rapids Community College for a couple of years before making the switch to GVSU as a full-time student in 1993.
"The way the classes were set up they allowed me the flexibility to continue working here and allowed me to cater my internships to one specific location. It really made it easy for me to be able to go to school, maintain my employment and walk right into a management job as soon as I graduated," said Lyon.
His management experience at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel took him around the country. After only a few months, Lyon was offered a promotion at a hotel in Detroit. He climbed the ladder at resorts in Traverse City, Miami, Destin, Florida, and eventually ended up back at the Amway Grand Plaza Hotel for the fourth time, accepting a position as director of operations.
Throughout his 15 years of experience in the hospitality business, Bruce Lyon has been recognized for several achievements, including Manager of the year at two separate hotels. He currently resides on the Grand Valley State University Hospitality Advisory Board, frequently speaks at GVSU Hospitality and Tourism Management summits and is often asked back to Grand Valley to share his knowledge with students in the classroom.
"You have the ones in the front that are really energetic, and you may have the ones like I was in the back that have worked a full shift the night before and are just trying to stay awake and get through the class. I try to speak to both of them," he said.
Lyon's expertise and honest advice has recruited a number of GVSU undergraduates to the internship program at the AGPH.
I don't have the best advice for everyone, but I tell students not to look for the glamorous internship. Just try to find something that's going to get you in the door and let your hard work prove it from there, said Lyon.
An accomplished businessman, and connected alumnus, Lyon still has some career aspirations. Inspired by a professor in one of his hospitality classes, he hopes to one day become an adjunct professor at GVSU.
"I still remember Dick King who taught our beverage class. He was more enthused about liquor laws and liability than anyone I've ever met, but I still go back and think about some of those things he said and apply them when we're in difficult situations."
At the age of 41, Bruce Lyon has had a significant impact on the hotel industry in Grand Rapids, and around the United States. Ultimately, he was led back to his home turf, where he is living in Rockford and raising a son, Nick. Lyon insists he is here to stay.
"West Michigan is special, and this hotel is incredible. There's no other hotel that runs the way that this does, he said. "I'm proud to live here, and I'm proud to be a Laker."
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