Steve Hyer has a great passion for helping others and making the community and the world a better place to live and raise a family. Steve is originally from New Jersey and came to Michigan in 1992. He graduated from Clarkston High School and then went on to graduate from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

Steve founded IGD Solutions in 1999 as an educational content company and that quickly transitioned in 2000 to a company that did website work for other companies just as the Internet and World Wide Web were becoming popular in the mainstream. Steve chose Clarkston, Michigan as the place to locate IGD Solutions because of the close knit, but yet still welcoming community.

Steve was elected to the Clarkston Community Schools Board of Education in 2001 and has served in every capacity including as President for 8 years. Steve has also served as the chairman for the Oakland County School Boards Association Legislative Committee and he has served on the Oakland County School Boards Association Board of Directors for a three year term. Steve received the prestigious Michigan Association of School Administrators Champion for Children Award in 2008. In 2009, an Honorary Life Membership in the Michigan Parent Teacher Association was bestowed upon Steve for his service on the Michigan PTA Board of Directors as their webmaster, Vice President of Children’s Advocacy, and ultimately Treasurer. In 2010, Steve received the Champion for Prevention Award from the Oakland County Alliance of Coalitions for Health Communities. Steve was also featured in the cover story of the American School Boards Journal for his advocacy work in 2011. In 2015, Steve received the President’s Award from the Michigan Association of School Boards for his ongoing learning, certification, and professional development as a school board member. Also in 2015, Steve was elected to the Michigan Association of School Boards Board of Directors where he serves all Michigan Public Schools as the association’s Vice President.

Being involved in the community is something that is automatic for Steve. He has served 9 years on the Clarkston Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. He is a charter member of the Clarkston Area Lions Club and he has served as President numerous times since 2000 in the Clarkston Local Business Network.

FIRST Robotics is another passion of Steve’s as he has been a volunteer mentor since 2007. Steve engineered the entrepreneurial component of the Team RUSH Regatta that has consistently raised more than $30K annually to help fund Team RUSH’s operations. Steve also worked with the students to develop and execute the Chairman’s Presentation ultimately winning the World Chairman’s Award and landing Team RUSH and Clarkston Community Schools in the FIRST Robotics Hall of Fame. Steve developed and runs the FIRST National Advocacy Conference annually in June to train hundreds of robotics students from around the country in Washington, DC to send them to Capitol Hill to advocate on behalf of STEM Education and FIRST Robotics. Because of these efforts, state advocacy efforts have sprung up to provide state funds to underprivileged schools so they can experience what FIRST Robotics and STEM education has to offer.

Under Steve’s leadership, the Student Association for STEM Advocacy was formed to increase the effectiveness of STEM Advocacy nationwide.  Steve provides the visionary leadership and big picture direction for SASA. Steve’s management philosophy is to bring on good people and let them do their jobs. Steve is excited to see SASA grow year after year!  Steve is very passionate about Advocacy and has led over 40 advocacy trips to Washington, DC for school board members, parents, administrators, and students over the last 15 years.  Steve has spoken at more than 15 advocacy events nationwide training students on effective advocacy techniques.