Operations Director: Tom Profit

TOM PROFIT
Director of Operations

Daily tasks: Teach Applied Speech Class, oversee the computer systems
throughout the school: networks, computers, printers, etc.; handle repair
and maintenance of the video equipment; oversee the repair and maintenance of the audio equipment; work with the building manager on the operation of the building: HVAC, maintenance and repair, facilities, plumbing, etc.; determine costs and implementation of new equipment for the school: video, audio, computer, phones, etc.; and oversee the operations department.

Professional experience: WMER-FM, Celina, Ohio-Announcer/Engineer; WTVB/WNWN-FM, Coldwater, MI-Announcer/Music Director; WMJC-FM, Birmingham/Detroit-Weekend/Utility Announcer; WCSX-FM, Birmingham/Detroit-Weekend/Utility Announcer; Freelance Announcer-Commercial and Industrial

Current contributions: Occasional volunteer work: Habitat for Humanity, St. Leo's Soup Kitchen and other similar activities

Education: High School; Career Academy, Columbus, Ohio; Elkins Institute, New Orleans, LA; School of Hard Knocks; Life Experience

Likes: My wife, my kids, my dogs, life

Dislikes: People who aren't aware of the other people around them and don't care

Favorite place: My house on Sand Point

One thing you'd like to learn: Another language

Pets: Two Labrador Retrievers (Luna and Jazz), and one cat (Bailey)

Subjects that interest you: Just about everything

Favorite writer: Pat Conroy, Simon Winchester, John Grisham, James Patterson, and many others

Favorite director: Don't care

Favorite movie: Shawshank Redemption, On Golden Pond, Sea Biscuit

Places traveled: Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, Pacific Northwest, Alaska, New Orleans, Florida

Greatest accomplishment: Raising two kids who have become successful individuals

Best book: Too many to count

Special talents/skills/hobbies: Restoring antique furniture, reading, annoying people

Things people associate with you: Correcting their English/speech; extreme sarcasm

SPECS CELEBRATES 25 YEAR MILESTONE WITH TOM PROFIT

It was December 5, 1977 when the handsome young man at left began his first day of work as an instructor at Specs Howard School. It also happened to be his birthday.

At the time, the school, was located on 8 Mile Rd., and consisted of only 4 studios and 2 classrooms. However, Tom Profit would come to oversee three major expansions and everything in between over the next 25 years.

Acting as Director of Education and Director of Operations simultaneously for a period of time, the first expansion Tom would oversee was the addition of video to the curriculum in 1981. Up until then, Specs Howard had only prepared students for careers in radio. Today, the students interested in video outnumber those interested in radio. It was a big step, indeed.

The second big development Tom would oversee was in 1994, when the school outgrew the facility on 8 Mile and had to be moved to its current location in Southfield all in a three-day weekend.

"We closed the school on Thursday night, moved EVERYTHING -- studios, classrooms, offices, etc. --and opened back up for business the following Monday," recalls Tom of the endeavor. "There were some very long days and short nights to get everything back up and operational."

A master at understatement, Tom's patient nature and ability to fix a problem is what keeps Specs moving -- quite literally. Performing maintenance on the walker Mr. Howard uses to get around is just one of the tasks we've come to depend on him to do. There are people on staff that absolutely dread when he takes a vacation because we're sure to find ourselves in a right pickle without him.

Currently as Director of Operations, changing light bulbs, hanging pictures, curing the common computer virus, chasing down operator-related computer problems, resetting Specs' TV remote when it loses its programming and turning the power back on when we've blown a fuse are just a few of the jobs Tom may be called upon to do on any given day.

Some grumbling is to be expected (especially for those of us who call upon him a lot), but it is Tom's sarcastic charm that makes him fun to be around. One can just imagine him on the microphone at any one of the numerous radio stations he worked at before his career as a "techie" began. Really, he's quite entertaining.

In his spare time, Tom is currently overseeing the school's third major expansion since he came on board. Blue prints have been drawn up, revisions made, delays expected, walls knocked down, equipment updated, classrooms completed, and delays revisited.

It would seem Tom's work is never done. As it said so eloquently on the cake he was presented at his surprise anniversary party, "After 25 years, you would think I'd have everything fixed."