Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
Everything good in my life traces back to service.
By Micah Mertes
Every Creighton alumnus has at least one good story to tell — about their deep connection to the University, about the path they took and the things they accomplished after graduating, about the foundational aspects of their Jesuit education that still resonate in their life today.
The challenge in writing about an alumnus like Greg Micek, BA'77, JD'80, is figuring out which story to tell. What to focus on?
The best solution, we think, is to list all of it (or at least most of it). These, in no particular order, are some of the connections, achievements and detours that make Greg a great alumni profile.
15 Things to Know About Greg Micek
1. Greg’s parents — John Micek, BS’50, and Anna Lou Micek, BA’75 — made the gift that created the Eternal Flame sculpture on the St. John’s Fountain.
2. His parents also made the gift that started Creighton’s Magis Catholic Teacher Corps. The example they set, he said, “made public service feel as natural as breathing.”
3. Greg’s mother was one of the three founders and the primary benefactor of the Holy Family Shrine in Gretna, Nebraska. Anna Lou conceived of the Holy Family Shrine, Greg said, after driving by a roadside chapel in Arkansas.
4. At Creighton, Greg was the VP of Events for the Student Council, bringing several big-name acts to campus. He was also 1977’s Senior of the Year in the College of Arts and Sciences.
5. In 2022, Greg was featured in a commercial for METRO Houston, in which he explains why he chose to sell his car and ride the bus every day instead. (“Taking cars off the road felt like one small way to live the values I care about,” he said.)
6. After graduating from Creighton’s School of Law, Greg did a stint as an international tax specialist (and “rainmaker”) with Deloitte’s predecessor, Touche Ross. One assignment, organizing a Houston-wide inventors’ fair, changed everything.
7. In 1983, Micek founded the Houston Inventors Association, today one of the nation’s largest local inventor groups. Five years later, he launched the Young Inventors Showcase, a K-12 competition whose alumni have since patented medical devices, eco-friendly consumer goods and classroom robotics kits.
Since then, Greg has rebranded as an entrepreneur and professional “Inventors Advocate.” He is now trying to produce a reality TV show featuring younger inventors.
8. In 2019, Greg was named a “Houston Hero” by the Houston Chronicle for his work with young inventors.
“The concept of public service is in my DNA,” Greg said. “The inventor and young inventor space happens to be where I’m applying it, but the source of it all is public service. It’s what my parents instilled in me.”
9. The Young Inventors Showcase is now rolling out what Greg calls Innovation Pods — community makerspaces with 3D printers, electronics benches and volunteer mentors — in schools, libraries and youth centers to cities across the U.S. He plans to start more than 100 Innovation Pods by the end of 2026.
“Talent is evenly distributed,” Greg said. “What isn’t evenly distributed is support. Our job is to close that gap. If these kids walk away believing their ideas matter—and that they can serve others with them—then we’ve succeeded.”
10. In 2002, Greg purchased FACES Composites, a leading facial composite software for first responders. The software is also available for educators with a STEM-based curriculum.
11. This spring, Greg launched his own website.
12. He has written a children’s book called The Great White Horse.
“My original plan was to move to Southern California, where I would write the Great American Novel. Things didn’t turn out that way, but at least now I’m a published author.”
13. Along the way, Greg acquired a large collection of materials related to the sweepstakes industry. He is currently working on a documentary about the history of American sweepstakes.
14. When he turned 70 last year, Greg decided to take on another side hustle, as a professional model. He has since been accepted by a local agency. For years, he’s been told he looks like Michael Douglas.
15. Through his life’s many detours — as an attorney, rainmaker, investor, entrepreneur, inventor advocate, children’s author, documentarian, bus rider and, now, model — Greg’s Creighton experience has stuck with him.
Weaving through all the threads is “cura personalis,” the Jesuit call to care for the whole person.
“Whether I’m mentoring a fourth grader with a solar backpack idea or chatting on a bus ride, I’m trying to honor that call. Everything good in my life traces back to service.”
