Session Speakers
Leon and Terrance Resnick
Resnick Associates
Wednesday, Feb. 4 , 1:45 - 2:45 pm
 Leon B. Resnick and Terrance K. Resnick, identical twins, are partners in Resnick Associates, a nationally recognized estate, business succession, and life insurance planning firm with offices in Kansas City and Harrisburg, PA. Resnick Associates has spoken before and worked extensively with a large number of business and trade associations and their members throughout the United States. The Resnicks have been featured in the book, Streetwise Marketing Plan. Resnick Associates has worked with the Wharton Business School at The University of Pennsylvania, executives of Fortune 500 companies, and individuals in professional sports and entertainment. Resnick Associates is a co-founder of the Elizabethtown College Family Business Center in Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, one of the largest college based family business centers in the United States.
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Lisa Langas
Golf Retail Consultant
Wednesday, Feb. 4 , 1:45 - 2:45 pm and Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:15 pm
As a buyer for May Company stores, Lisa learned the importance of implementing proven retail management strategies. This experience and her creative approach to successful retailing, has established her as the top retail consultant in the golf industry. For the past 16 years Lisa has worked with hundreds of golf shops, helping them attain greater profitability and improved merchandising standards. From financial services to visual merchandising, staff training and operations manuals, Lisa provides comprehensive retail consulting services focusing on easy implementation and long term success. Additionally, Lisa provides superior education and training to course operators, club managers, PGA professionals, and golf shop buyers via seminars and on site workshops.
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Mike Holtzman
Profitable Food Facilities
Wednesday, Feb. 4 , 1:45 - 2:45 pm and Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Michael Holtzman received his BS in Restaurant Management from California Polytechnic University, and now has over 28 years of restaurant industry experience. His focus has been on improving the sales, quality, and profitability of food service operations. Mike is a hands-on operator with experience in all aspects of food service. In particular, he has worked with more than 320 facilities in 42 states, Canada, England and the Middle East. Profitable Food Facilities is a company specializing in captive market restaurant locations including golf courses, private country clubs, high end daily fee courses, golf resorts, ski resorts, aquatic centers, theme parks, wellness centers and day spas. Mike’s projects include designing the new clubhouse kitchen for Kemper Sports in California, Cog Hill Golf Club, opening the new Trilogy course in La Quinta, and Baltusrol CC. The most recent remodel is Poppy Hills Golf Club in Pebble Beach, host of the AT&T championship. PFF has also completed nearly 100 consulting projects with golf courses to improve their operations and their bottom line by millions of dollars in profits over the past 10 years. Mike’s next big venture is a project in Dubai, designing the Greg Norman clubhouse kitchens for the first 120,000 square foot clubhouse and two other clubhouses in the next 12 months.
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John Huggins
Tournament Players Club
Wednesday, Feb. 4 , 1:45 - 2:45 pm
John Huggins has more than 20 years of leadership experience and has played a major role in the strategic development and growth of the TPC organization. John joined TPC Sawgrass as and assistant golf professional in 1984 and has served as head golf professional, general manager/director of golf at several TPC properties, and as a Regional Director of Operations and in TPC development. He assumed his current Senior Vice President for TPC Operations responsibilities in 2004. John is a graduate of Auburn University, and has been a Class A member of the PGA of America since 1985. He and his wife, Mona, have three children, Leanne, Thomas, and Karlin.
PGA TOUR Golf Course Properties, Inc. owns and/or operates the facilities that comprise the internationally renowned Tournament Players Club (TPCs) Network, a subsidiary of PGA TOUR, Inc. The TPC Network is a diverse representation of high-end resort, daily fee, and private membership facilities, and each club adheres to the TOUR’s demanding standards of operation, guaranteeing an outstanding experience for members and guests alike.
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Archie Lemon
Burroughs & Chapin
Wednesday, Feb. 4 , 1:45 - 2:45 pm
Archie Lemon is currently employed as Senior Director of Golf, Sports and Hospitality for Burroughs and Chapin Company, a Myrtle Beach based Real Estate Development Company. His primary focus is over-sight of B&C Golf Management which is comprised of nine golf courses (five owned and four managed). Other responsibilities include Myrtlewood Villas Rental Management (650 units), Entertainment Golf Division (five mini-golf, two Par 3’s and driving range) and f&b and retail for Ripken Baseball, Myrtle Beach. Collectively, these operations exceed $45M in annual revenue.
Archie’s current golf industry volunteer service includes: Board of Directors for Myrtle Beach Area Golf Course Owner’s Association, Board of Directors Myrtle Beach Tee Time Network and Golf Holiday Marketing Committee. He served as President of the Myrtle Beach Golf Course Owners Association from 2004 – 2007.
Mr. Lemon has been a Class A PGA Member since 1986 and in his 30-year golf career has served the PGA as both Chapter and Section officer, Section chairman of Tournament, Membership and Ethics committees as well as various Section and Chapter committees. Archie has also served on PGA National Membership committee and was awarded by his peers of Resort Merchandiser of the Year for the Carolinas PGA in 2000.
Prior to working for B&C, Archie has served as either General Manager, Director of Golf or Head Golf Professional at a virtual who’s-who in the Middle Atlantic and South-East Regions of the U.S. and includes such facilities as: The Landings Club on Skidaway Island, Savannah, Ga., The Golf Club of Georgia, Alpharetta, Ga., Kingsmill Golf Resort, Williamsburg, Va., Legend’s Golf Properties in Williamsburg, Va. and Myrtle Beach, S.C. Vast PGA Tournament experience was also garnered during Archie’s tenure at Kingsmill as they hosted the Anheuser Busch Golf Championship in 1994 and 1995 and the Michelob Championship in ’96 and ’97.
Golf was an inherent part of growing up as Archie’s parents have collectively won over 20 club championships. In 1974, Archie won the Virginia 2A State High School Golf Championship and was awarded a golf scholarship to attend Virginia Tech. He and his younger sister, Sandy, played on the high school golf team together. She went to Southern Illinois on a golf scholarship and is currently a PGA and LPGA teaching professional in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Archie and Karen (his wife of 28 years) reside in Conway, South Carolina. There daughter Jenna is a sophomore at Coastal Carolina University and their son Jarrod is married and has provided Archie and Karen with two grand-daughters.
Outside of golf and athletics in general, Archie’s favorite hobbies are hunting and fishing. In 2008, his high school in Covington, Va. inducted Archie into their high school athletic hall-of-fame.
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Jay Ehret
The Marketing Spot
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm; Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:15 pm
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2:45 - 3:45 pm; Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Jay is a former “marketing guy” who cut his small business teeth while selling and creating radio advertising for 17 years. Now Chief Steward of The Marketing Spot in Waco, Texas, Jay is a small business marketing consultant, coach, speaker, and blog author. He is a branding architect, a customer experience designer, a conversation starter, and an advertising strategist. Jay is also a wine lover, poker player, and Christian missionary.
He lives in Woodway, Texas, just outside of Waco with his wife, Carol and their two dogs, Sadie and Lucy.
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Bill Garcia
Garcia & Associates
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Bill Garcia is a contract negotiator, negotiation trainer and worldwide motivational speaker. Garcia’s corporate career experience includes direct sales and sales management; export sales to Latin America; national sale and account management; and vice president of sales and marketing positions. His entrepreneurial experience includes being a founder and board member of a business-to-business global sourcing company, as well as several other smaller LLP ventures. Garcia has demonstrated experience in idea generation, capital raising, business development, executive level team building and execution.
Garcia & Associates began as counsel to various Fortune 100 companies during contract negotiations in 1997. He and his partners regularly sit at-the-table representing both buyers and sellers. Additionally his organization provides customized negotiation training worldwide (over 25 countries on 6 continents).
Garcia holds a Masters of International Management (MBA) from “Thunderbird”, and received his BA from the James Madison College of Michigan State University in International Relations.
When not negotiating Bill is an avid golfer (and a negotiation trainer and lecturer for the PGA Tour, LPGA and Golf Course Builders Association) and has been known to travel great distances for a challenging round.
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Bill Yates
Grey Town Golf, LLC
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm and Thursday, Feb. 5, 2:45 - 3:45 pm
Founder and CEO of Grey Town Golf, LLC, and developer of Pace Manager Systems® and Pace Designer Systems®, Bill has worked with managers to improve their operations for more than 25 years. Widely regarded as the "guru" of pace of play, Bill addresses issues of continuously improving customer service, quality, course revenue and the pace and flow of play through staff development and training.
Bill has improved the golfing experience and increased profits on more than 120 courses in the U.S., Canada, Asia and the U.K…courses such as Harbour Town Golf Links, Bandon Dunes, the Gleneagles Hotel, Pebble Beach Golf Links, Mission Hills Country Club, Jasper Park Lodge, the Old Course at St Andrews, and many more. As the author of the NGCOA Pace of Play Manual and contributor to the USGA® Pace Rating Systems Manual, Bill brings new insights to the usefulness and accuracy of course pace ratings in helping manage play. Bill's Pace Manager Systems® has regularly been featured in Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, Club Management Magazine, Executive Golfer, Golf Illustrated, Florida Golf News, Golf World and other national and international publication.
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Forrest Richardson
American Society of Golf Course Architects and Forrect Richardson & Associates
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm and Thursday, Feb. 5, 2:45 - 3:45 pm
Forrest is the youngest in a lineage of architects beginning with Henry and W.C. Fownes, designers and founders of the famous Oakmont Country Club in Pittsburgh. Forrest's mentor was the late Arthur Jack Snyder, once a greenkeeper at Oakmont and then a prolific golf architect. Snyder’s father, Arthur A. Snyder, began caddying for the Fownes in 1907 and later worked on the crew to build many of Oakmont’s now-famous landmark features. Forrest is a contributor to several golf publications. He is the author of two books on golf architecture; Routing the Golf Course and Bunkers, Pits & Other Hazards, which he co-wrote with Mark Fine.
Forrest Richardson & Associates has completed numerous award-winning golf course projects. Their clients have been honored with Renovation of the Year and Development of the Year awards, as well as numerous top honors from various golf magazines. The Phoenix, Arizona-based firm has current projects in Arizona, California, Utah, Hawaii, Sonora, Mexico and Alberta, Canada.
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Phil Green
OB Sports
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
As President of OB Sports, Phil oversees all corporate affairs in addition to supervising the operations for all courses managed by the company. Phil also helps to create long-term business plans for prospective management or development projects. Phil has a proven background in operational excellence and sound business skills with more than 25 years as a prominent leader in the golf industry. He has guided the direction of more than 45 courses in 16 U.S. states and Mexico. Recognized by the golf industry on numerous occasions for his leadership including a cover article in GolfInc Magazine. Phil studied Business Administration at both Arizona State and Grand Canyon Universities respectively.
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Bobby Heath
Western Golf
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
By developing partnerships with Owners, Bobby Heath provides the knowledge and guidance to create and implement financial and operational goals. Bobby adheres to the philosophy of providing a custom tailored management approach to each course as to not fill a pre-determined mold creating an individuality that sets each owners’ courses apart from the masses. His experience and expertise also extends into the development side of the industry by working on strategic planning for golf courses and their communities. During his tenure as President & CEO, Western Golf Properties earned recognition as one of the fastest growing management companies of 2005.
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Sam Fried
Flights of Fancy Adventures, Inc.
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:15 pm
The author of Water Quality Testing – The Agony and the Ecstasy for the USGA Green Section Record, as well as Conservation Comrades: Golf Courses and the Environment, Sam has had over 38 feature articles in such publications as National Audubon and Birder’s World, and has written several chapters of the Insight Guides, published by The Discovery Channel.
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Kun Li
CITIC Forward Golf Management Company
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:30 pm
Kun Li is Chief Representative of Forward Management Group (FMG). Kun received his Masters and Ph.D. degree in Turfgrass Management/Environmental Soil Chemistry from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He was the Director of Agronomist and Science for FMG. He directed and consulted 30 + golf courses in China and helped to develop multiple new projects. He also establishes the cooperation relationship with world leading golf contractors and architects in USA, and introduces golf course construction and management standard into China’s industry. Kun also has served as guest speaker in various training and education workshops to golf course manager. Right now, he is board member of Course Management Committee of China Golf Association.
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Eric Affeldt
ClubCorp
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:30 pm
Eric L. Affeldt is the chief executive officer and president of ClubCorp. Eric is responsible for all aspects of domestic and international operations for “The World Leader in Private Clubs.”
Dallas-based ClubCorp and its affiliates own or operate more than 150 golf courses, country clubs, private business and sports clubs and resorts. Among ClubCorp’s nationally recognized golf properties are Firestone Country Club in Akron, Ohio (site of the World Golf Championships – Bridgestone Invitational) and Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California (home of the Kraft Nabisco Championship). The renowned collection of business and business sports clubs include the Columbia Tower Club in Seattle; Metropolitan Club in Chicago and the City Club of Washington, D.C. Eric was a key player one of the biggest deals in golf history, when KSL Capital Partners, a private equity firm, purchased ClubCorp for $1.8 billion in 2006. In addition, Eric was ranked third in Golf Inc.’s “Most Powerful People in Golf” listing in 2007 and was instrumental in establishing the ClubCorp Charity Classic, the world’s largest one-day golf and dining event. The event raised more than $1.6 million for MDA’s Augie’s Quest, the PGA Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the ClubCorp Employee Partners Care Foundation. Prior to joining ClubCorp, Eric served as a principal of KSL Capital Partners. Eric also previously served as president and CEO of KSL’s former golf division, KSL Fairways; vice president and general manager of Doral Golf Resort and Spa in Miami and the combined PGA West and La Quinta Resort and Club in California; and was a founding partner of KSL Recreation. In addition, Eric was president of General Aviation Holdings, Inc. He is a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), serves on the Boards of First Rate Investment Systems, Avendra, Freemont College, Youth With a Mission/Baja, and the YPO Fellowship Forum, and is the former manager of the Belgian National Baseball team.
Eric holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science and religion from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, California.
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Robert Visentin
ClubLink
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:30 pm
Robert has been Chief Financial Office since April 2000 and a member of the Company’s senior management team since 1997 and brings many years of public company financial management experience to the position. He has extensive real estate development experience having spent 18 years with the Brookfield group of companies. While at Brookfield Homes Limited, he held the position of Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer before moving to ClubLink in November 1997.
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Marcel Welling
Burg Golf and The European Golf Course Owners Association
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 4:15 - 5:30 pm
After his MBA Marcel Welling started working at Peat Marwick Mitchell as a consultant. He moved to BCG to continue his consultancy career. In 1994 Marcel started working as CEO of BurgGolf, a Dutch Multi Course Owner. BurgGolf owned 6 courses at that time. In 1999 Marcel succeeded with a management buyout of BurgGolf. Today the BurgGolf Group has 30 golf courses in the Netherlands, Belgium and France. BurgGolf is building the most prestigious course in the Netherlands: Schiphol International.
Marcel was chairman of the Dutch Golf Course Owners Association from 1998 until 2004. In 2002 Marcel became of member of the board of the National Golf Course Owners Association. Marcel is the founding President of the European Golf Course Owners Association.
Marcel lives in Amsterdam and Blaricum. He is married and has two daughters.
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Debby Cannon
Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality, Georgia State University
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2:45 - 3:45 pm
Dr. Debby Cannon is the Director of the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality in the Robinson College of Business at Georgia State University. On the faculty since 1991, Dr. Cannon’s areas of specialization include human resources and quality service management. She has extensive industry experience including property and corporate-level positions with Hyatt Hotels and Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company.
Cannon was on the team that wrote the Ritz-Carlton’s first application for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Dr. Cannon is the co-author of Training and Development for the Hospitality Industry published by the Educational Institute of the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Her doctorate degree, from Georgia State University, is in human resources development.
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Dennis Johnson
Pine Meadows Golf Course
Thursday, Feb. 5, 2:45 - 3:45 pm
Dennis L. Johnson, PGA, Club Manager/Director of Golf, Pine Meadow Golf Club A Member of the PGA’s Quarter Century Club, Dennis has been coaching and teaching since 1972. Prior to joining Pine Meadow in 2004, Dennis served as Head Professional at Pheasant Run Resort for 24 years. Selected as IL PGA golf Professional of the Year in 1999 and 2001, Dennis has received numerous awards and recognition from the Illinois PGA Section.
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Bruce Charlton
American Society of Golf Course Architects and Robert Trent Jones, II, LLC
Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Bruce Charlton, ASGCA is President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects and President and Chief Design Officer of Robert Trent Jones, II, LLC, based in Palo Alto, Calif. His work includes Chambers Bay Golf Course, Pierce County, Washington, which was recently named the site for the 2015 U.S. Open as well as the 2010 U.S. Amateur. He also lists The Bridges at Rancho Santa Fe, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. and Bro Hof Slott Golf Club, Stockholm, Sweden as representative of his work. During his presidential year, his focus has been on communicating the message that “Golf is Green” and that the industry practices the responsible use of water.
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Ted Horton
Ted Horton Consulting
Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
After more than 40 years of highly successful work experiences in private golf and country club, resort and public daily fee golf course maintenance operations, Ted Horton is currently a consultant to the golf course industry. His services offer proactive advice on environmental stewardship; golf course safety, security and risk management; tournament preparations; mentoring of new superintendents; long range planning, agronomic programs and administrative functions of large property maintenance. He is currently Senior Consulting Superintendent for ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance, while also serving as Executive Director of the California Golf Course Owners Association and President of the California Golf Alliance (CAG).
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Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, CGM
Stone Mountain Golf Club
Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Anthony L. Williams, CGCS, CGM is the Director of Grounds for the Stone Mountain Golf Club in Stone Mountain, Georgia and a twenty-two year Marriott Golf veteran. He is the Vice President of the Georgia Golf Course Superintendents Association and is the Southeastern Director of the Professional Grounds Management Society. He was the 2006 National Public Course and Overall winner of the Environmental Leaders in Golf Contest and in 2008 received Marriott’s highest honor the J.W. Marriott Award of Excellence for his efforts in environmental stewardship.
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Beth Meister
Club Marketing & Co.
Thursday, Feb. 5, 4:00 - 5:00 pm
Beth Meister is the President of Club Concepts, an innovative marketing firm working with developers and managers on the consultation, development, training and implementation of key marketing, sales and training initiatives. Over the past 20 years in the Club business, Beth has held several senior management sales and marketing positions with club industry leaders.
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Jim Keegan
Managing Principal, Golf Convergence
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 1:45 - 2:45 pm
With nine principals averaging 20 years of experience in the golf business, Golf Convergence provides common sense solutions founded on sound principals. With clients from Europe, to Asia, and across America, Golf Convergence has developed a unique process that is enhancing the profitability, the value and the investment return of today’s golf courses. By judiciously balancing the doctrines of strategic vision, tactical planning and operational accomplishment into an eight-step executable formula, fiscal prosperity is being rekindled.
As Managing Principal, Jim has traveled in excess of 2,000,000 miles visiting over 250 courses annually and meeting with owners and key management personnel at more than 3,000 courses. Having successfully combined his passion for golf with his business acumen, his experience makes him uniquely qualified to offer expert opinions on trends and issues facing golf courses today because of his direct knowledge and interaction with the golfing community.
An accomplished writer, Jim’s current endeavor is the soon-to-be-published, “Business of Golf - What Are You Thinking?”
Currently, he serves as a panelist for Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Golf Courses. He is a member of the Club Manager’s Association of America, the National Golf Foundation, and the International Network of Golf. Jim is a former volunteer of the Colorado Golf Association and the USGA Sectional Affairs Committee. Jim has served as a course rater and rules official for numerous tournaments including the local and sectional qualifying for the U.S. Open and the World Club Championship.
A certified public accountant with a B.B.A. degree from Texas Christian University, Jim earned an M.B.A. in corporate finance from the University of Michigan. He has also served as a captain in the United States Air Force and worked at KPMG as a computer audit specialist.
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Larry A. Hirsh
Founder & President, Golf Property Analysts
Golf Property Analysts was established in 1988 by founder and president Laurence A. Hirsh. Hirsh has amassed considerable experience in the valuation and analysis of a wide variety of income and special use properties as well as having been active as a principal in the development of office, recreational and retail properties and as a broker on selected occasions. Hirsh has provided appraisal, consulting and brokerage services across the United States and Canada, has lectured at seminars and universities and has frequently served as an expert witness or litigation support consultant in several golf property related matters. He is also a widely published author on the topic of golf property valuation and economic matters in both professional and industry publications.
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Dana Garmany
Chairman and CEO, Troon Golf
Dana has over 25 years industry experience developing and operating golf facilities worldwide, as well as involvement in more than 40 construction projects. Dana has been named by both Golf Inc. and Golf Digest as one of the most powerful and influential people in golf. In the most recent rankings by Golf Inc., Dana was rated as the second most powerful and influential person in the golf industry, behind only Jack Nicklaus. A member of the Professional Golfers Association of America since 1983, Dana founded Troon Golf in 1990 with his first property, the renowned Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. Dana continues to lead and set standards for domestic and international high-end daily fee, resort, and private golf courses.
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Peter Hill
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Billy Casper Golf
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 3:00 - 4:00 pm
Peter is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Billy Casper Golf. Peter co-founded Billy Casper Golf, the full-service owner/operator of more than 95 golf properties. He oversees all aspects of the firm's holdings, which include Buffalo Communications, the PR agency for many of golf's top brands. A graduate of Georgetown University, Peter holds an MBA from Columbia University.
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James H. Gilmore
Author of “Authenticity - What Consumers Really Want”
Wednesday, Feb. 4, 10:45 - 11:45 pm
As co-author of The Experience Economy: Work Is Theatre & Every Business a Stage (Harvard Business School Press, 1999), Jim literally wrote the book that spawned worldwide interest in experience design, customer experience management, and experiential marketing. Tom Peters rightly called The Experience Economy “a brilliant, absolutely original book.” Now published in eleven languages, the book continues to find new readers across myriad industries as businesses find their goods and services commoditized and customers increasingly spending their time and money on experiences—memorable events that engage them in an inherently personal way.
Jim’s most recent book, Authenticity: What Consumers Really Want (Harvard Business School Press, 2007), contends that businesses must learn to manage authenticity as a distinct business discipline. Indeed, in an ever more commercialized, intentionally staged, and technologically mediated world—an increasingly unreal world—people today want the real from the genuine, not the fake from some phony. Jim and his co-author Joe Pine, offer unparalleled insights concerning this important new topic. In its March 24, 2008 issue, Time magazine dubbed the core of Joe & Jim’s thinking, “synthetic authenticity,” and included it among its covers story featuring “10 Ideas That Are Changing the World”.
Jim is co-founder of Aurora, Ohio-based Strategic Horizons LLP. He has been described as “professional observer,” sought by enterprises around the globe for his expertise in conceiving and designing new ways of adding value to their economic offerings. He is a frequent keynote speaker, as well as workshop facilitator and executive coach; a number of professional societies, trade associations, and individual companies also engage Jim to help design their overall meetings and events. Recently, Jim has been accepted a three-year appointment as the Chief Experience Architect for the San Diego Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Jim’s ideas have been featured in numerous articles on business strategy and innovation for such publications as the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, and Investors Business Daily, among others. He is also co-editor of Markets of One: Creating Customer-Unique Value through Mass Customization (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2000).
He began his career with Procter & Gamble and then spent over ten years consulting with Cleveland Consulting Associates and Computer Sciences Corporation, heading CSC Consulting's process innovation practice before starting his own firm. Jim is currently a Batten Fellow and Visiting Lecturer at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. He previously served as the 2002-2003 Dean Helen LeBaron Hilton Endowed Co-chair at the College of Family & Consumer Sciences at Iowa State University. He is a graduate of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
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Michelle Wittig
Michelle is the General Manager of Juday Creek Golf Course in Granger, Indiana. In this role, she oversees the daily operations and management of the nearly 100 employees of the busy semi-private course with extensive food and beverage services. Juday Creek, which was built and is owned by Michelle’s parents Mike and Linda Rogers, celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008. Along with numerous Learn to Play, Women’s and Junior Programs, Michelle also conducts free clinics at Juday Creek for college students, introducing them to the game of golf as a tool to use in their professional career. Michelle received her MBA from Loyola University, Chicago. She has served as a Professor of Marketing at Saint Mary’s College in Notre Dame, Indiana and continues to lecture at various colleges and universities. Michelle has been a long time member of the Board of Directors of the Potawatomi Zoological Society serving as Vice President in 2007; she is also an active member of the Indiana Golf Course Owners Association. Michelle was named to the regions “40 under forty” list in 2008 for outstanding contribution in the workplace and service to the community.
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David (Rock) Lucas
Rock is the current President/Operating Partner of the 27 hole semi-private Charwood Country Club. He is also a Partner of Lucas-Alexander Development, a commercial and residential development company. Rock graduated from the University of South Carolina with a BS in Business Administration/ Mgt Science. He is the Chairman of the Lexington County Planning Commission and President of the South Carolina Golf Course Owners Association.
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Dick Stuntz
Dick, CGCS, graduated from Iowa State University with a Bachelor of Science in Agronomy – Turfgrass Management in 1976. He spent 20 years as a golf course superintendent in Iowa and Kansas. For the past 12 years, Dick has been the President of Oak Golf Inc. a golf management company that owns, leases, and manages golf operations in Eastern Kansas. He is also the President of Alvamar Inc., which owns and operates a 36-hole golf facility in Lawrence, Kansas. Dick and his wife Kathy have three adult children and five grandchildren, all in the Lawrence and Kansas City area.
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Jeff Hoag
Jeff is the President of Golf Systems, Inc. that owns and manages Scott Lake Country Club, a 27-hole daily fee golf course in Comstock Park, Michigan. Since 1975, Jeff and his brother Paul have grown their business from a small 18-hole facility to its current high volume 27-hole operation. As a Past President of both the Michigan Golf Course Owners Association and the NGCOA Jeff has had the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with other golf course owners. “Our development and growth is the results of exchanging ideas with other golf course owners at the NGCOA annual conference.” Think of your attendance at this session as the best opportunity to tap the minds of other owners, the best resource in the golf business.
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Walt Lankau
Walt has been involved in the game of golf since the age of 11. In 1986 he and a partner purchased Stow Acres Country Club. As owner of Stow Acres, Walt has renovated the banquet facility, runs golf outings of all sizes, and has developed a golf school, which has grown to be the largest in the local market. Stow Acres has hosted the US Amateur Public Links Championship, has been designated as one of the Top 75 courses by Golf Digest, and the golf shop has been named as one of the Top 100 by Golf Shop Operations. Walt is also part owner of Sterling Country Club, which opened in 1991 and started Stow Acres Golf Properties, Inc., which will acquires and manages golf properties.
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George Kelley
George is the visionary behind Greenway Golf and is responsible for business development, facility assessments and strategic planning. George is a fifth generation descendant of a California Pioneer family. His family’s business interests include farming, a dairy operation, cattle, real estate development and an upscale public golf course. A 1973 graduate of the University of Colorado, George spent the next three years traveling the world as a touring golf professional. At the completion of his golf career, Kelley became a real estate broker specializing in golf related ventures. In 1995 he developed and co-designed the highly acclaimed Stevinson Ranch GC on family owned land in the Central Valley of California. Stevinson Ranch has since garnered many awards including California’s Best New Course and was the first Audubon International Signature golf course west of the Mississippi.
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Linda Rogers
Linda is the owner and operator of Juday Creek Golf Course in Granger, Indiana which celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2008. Linda and her husband Mike built the course as well as the surrounding housing development. Linda has been very active in the NGCOA and currently serves as the Board Secretary and was one of the founding members of the Indiana Golf Course Owners Association, serving as its first President. As a member of the INGCOA, Linda was proactive in lobbying to bring Daylight Savings Time to the state and is now pursuing property tax reform for golf courses in Indiana. The Rogers also own a high-end custom home business that builds homes in Michigan and Indiana. Linda recently finished a 2-year term as the President of the St. Joseph Valley Homebuilders Association and is now an Area Vice President for the Indiana Builders Association. Prior to venturing into the golf business, the Rogers owned 5 restaurants. Mike and Linda’s only child, Michelle Wittig works closely with the couple in their businesses and is the General Manager of Juday Creek.
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William (Bill) B. Horn
Bill has a Bachelor of Science Degree from Brigham Young University in Accounting/Economics and received his Master's Degree in Human Resource Management from Golden Gate University. He has either owned, operated or worked in the following industries: certified public accountants, retail and/or wholesale office equipment, high speed printing, agriculture, automotive and greeting card. Bill became General Manager of Incline Village General Improvement District in November 2001.
Bill is well suited to join the NGCOA faculty as he has taught as an adjunct professor at California State University in Sacramento, CA; Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, NV; and Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, NV. Jody and Bill have been married for forty years and are the proud parents of seven children and grandparents of nineteen.
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Colin Mayes
Chief Executive, Burhill Golf and Leisure Ltd.
Colin is a relative newcomer to the golf industry having joined Burhill Golf and Leisure Ltd in 2006, a private company owned by the Guinness family. His responsibilities include 3 private membership clubs and 7 of the UK’s largest pay and play centres, together with property and marine business interests.
He also currently acts in a non-executive capacity for Cranfield University and Water Innovate Limited in addition to his role with Burhill Golf and Leisure.
Before joining the golf sector he has had a long and successful career in the wider hospitality industry including Chairmanship of a Private Equity backed restaurant business, Managing Director of a 500 unit pub and restaurant business with one of the UK leading pub groups, Vice President Development for Forte Hotels based in Rome, Italy and other executive positions within international hotels business. He has also held senior management roles in airport retailing, budget hotels and event management organisations.
Outside of business he is a keen sportsman still competing in international masters swimming events, skiing during the winter months and raising money for charitable causes through his annual charity challenge. This year a number of senior golf executives from Toro, Club Car and Troon Golf joined him for the 2008 event, mountain biking from the East to West coast of England. He is also Chairman of a Charitable Sports Trust that operates sports facilities in the town where he grew up.
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Bryan Bielecki, GCSAA
Directory of Agronomy, Billy Casper Golf
Mr. Bielecki directs the firm’s development and implementation of all agronomic and maintenance plans and programs nationwide. He and his team of regional superintendents provide oversight to BCG’s facilities’ superintendents, and he leads the firm’s agronomic component of golf course development and major renovation projects. Mr. Bielecki is a member of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America and a graduate of the University of Maryland and its Institute of Applied Agriculture.
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Nancy Schulz
Nancy Schulz and her husband, Dick are the owners of The Oaks Course, an 18 hole facility in Covington, Georgia where she functions as the controller. During their 20 years as owners, they have grown the food and beverage operation from a small hot dog snack bar to a full service grill and banquet facility. Nancy is a graduate of the University of Tennessee and holds a master's degree from Vanderbilt University. In addition to her work at the golf course, she has recently been elected to her first political office as a county commissioner.
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