Secchia is a close personal friend and advisor of former-President Gerald R. Ford and was on the national advisory committee of the 1988 George Bush for President Committee.
Secchia was honored in 1994 as the Master Entrepreneur of the Year for Michigan and in 1995 as the Businessman of the Year and has been involved with numerous civic organizations promoting economics and assisting underprivileged youth.
Secchia is on the Executive Committee of the Gerald R. Ford Foundation and is the overseer of the Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids and Ford Presidential Library in Ann Arbor, Michigan and is the past chairman of the library's Endowment Committee and Strategic Planning Committee.