ISA's highest honor acknowledges
I was thrilled to hear that Kozell Boren, founder of Signtronix (Torrance, CA), was awarded the sign industry’s highest honor, the Kirk L. Brimley Distinguished Service Award, during April’s Sign Expo tradeshow in Las Vegas.
Kozy’s financial/educational gifts to the sign industry are legendary, but perhaps his greatest gift is his ability to bring people together. Call it Tuna Diplomacy. His floating conference center, the 62-ft. Slice of Life II, and his love of fishing have spawned countless relationships.
In the summer of 1999, Kozy wanted to unite some sign-legislation efforts. A handful of industry people were invited for a weeklong dialogue/fishing trip to Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, including Dr. R. James Claus (founder of the Signage Foundation for Communication Excellence [SFCE] in 1994) and then-ISA Chairman Cal Lutz. Cal caught a 70-lb. tuna, the biggest one on the trip. More importantly, I believe, Cal caught up with Jim personally, which catalyzed ISA/SFCE collaboration.
Tom Cummings III, now the CEO for Kozy’s companies, didn’t really know Kozy until that 1999 trip. Similarly, the Small Business Administration (SBA) had no information about signage on its website at the time, but seeds were then planted that have produced a bumper crop of subsequent information.
Two years later, Kozy organized a similar trip, but this time invited fathers and sons. Guests included then ISA chairman Joe Rickman (more on Joe later).
In 2001, the ISA and SFCE began working together. Kozy’s sign company, Signtronix, donated $245,000 for various projects, including legal fees regarding the American Planning Assn. project (see ST, March 2007, page 184). His donations kept coming: $26,000 in 2002.
In 2003, Kozy developed the video, Signs, Speech of the Street, and presented it at the ISA/SFCE National Symposium. The SBA later utilized the video on its website. Overall, Signtronix donated $34,500 to that year’s ISA/SFCE projects.
In 2004, Signtronix provided $55,000 for other projects, followed by $29,000 in 2006.
Kozy twice (1988 and 1996) served as the California Electric Sign Assn. (now the California Sign Assn. [CSA]) president. He received CSA’s President’s Award in 1990 and a special CSA award for Dedication to the Sign Industry in 2003. Kozy served nearly a quarter century on its board of directors and was named a director emeritus in 1997.
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