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Bilco Co. Vice President Roger Joyce ’73 is serving a one-year term as chairman of the Connecticut Business & Industry Association.
“CBIA is the state’s largest business organization,” he says. “Its main mission is advocacy at a state level to help shape specific laws and to promote a regulatory system that responds to businesses’ needs.”
In addition to working with state legislators, CBIA offers public forums through which its 10,000 member companies can make themselves heard. It also sponsors programs and events that bring together representatives of business, government, education, and private enterprise to work on common problems.
Joyce became involved in CBIA through his position at Bilco. In the early ’90s, he and Bilco worked with CBIA to draft a reform package that ultimately was passed. CBIA’s collective knowledge and effectiveness, as well as the opportunity to make a difference, have kept him involved ever since.
Joyce serves on several other boards for the same reasons. The New Haven Inner City Business Strategy Initiative is an important one to him.
“This is an effort by the city of New Haven to create an empowerment zone,” he says. “It is designed to provide resources for distressed areas of cities. I was asked to be chairman of a new 501C [tax-exempt entity] that was formed to fund the initiative. The board that continues to oversee the efforts is about as diverse a group as I’ve ever seen. It has been incredible to see them all put their different agendas and viewpoints aside and lock arms to get something done together.”
His job at Bilco also is rewarding. The company, a family business founded in 1926 by Joyce’s grandfather, George W. Lyons Sr., developed steel doors for basements as well as other commercial and industrial doors, and is considered a world leader in its field.
“The most exciting aspect for me is the variety,” says Joyce, the vice president of engineering. “We deal with architects and engineers every day. They have specific construction needs or challenges, and solving the most difficult problems is really rewarding. I am energized by attempting to resolve the impossible.”
Joyce believes his major at Lafayette was somewhat unusual and was the ideal preparation for his career. He graduated with a bachelor of arts in engineering, a degree that allows the student to choose classes in various engineering disciplines.
“It was the perfect opportunity for me to take some mechanical, civil, and industrial engineering classes,” he says. “I could pick the classes that met my interest, and beyond that I could take electives that were more comprehensive. Those classes in psychology and labor relations benefited me greatly in the needs of my career. I found the broader view very useful, and I feel it gave me a head start.”
Joyce fondly recalls the camaraderie among students.
“The connections were not just within a dorm or fraternity; they were campus-wide,” he says. “The small population let you get to know a lot of people well and I have maintained many strong friendships from then. I’ve even run into fellow classmates that I haven’t kept in touch with and we can talk after decades as if we never left – that is an indication of how close everyone was.”