Month: January 2025

GGA Appoints Joe Oswald as Executive Director, Consulting & People Services

Date:
Seasoned professional, Joe Oswald, will expand the firm’s Consulting & People Services

Toronto, ON – GGA Partners, an international consulting firm and trusted advisor to many of the world’s most successful golf courses, private clubs, resorts, and residential communities, today announced the appointment of Joe Oswald as Executive Director, Consulting & People Services.

“We are excited to welcome Joe Oswald to GGA Partners’,” stated Managing Director and Partner Michael Gregory. “Joe is an incredibly knowledgeable and experienced executive in the golf and private club space, having led one of the industry’s largest software companies. Our clients and partners will benefit tremendously from Joe’s unique expertise.”

As a senior business leader and ICF certified coach who has led global organizations with successive years of profitable growth. Joe works with C-suite leaders and business owners to help develop their plans to be more and do more with their leadership and business potential.

“It is an honor to be selected to join the outstanding team at GGA Partners,” noted Oswald. “I have always been impressed with the experience and professionalism of the team, as well as their approach to delivering unique services tailored to the new realities of private clubs.”

Oswald was most recently president at Jonas Club Software, a Constellation Software company where he led 5 businesses. He previously served in several technology firms in roles as chief operating officer, executive vice-president, business development and as a principal in a national executive coaching and career transition services firm.

“Our team had the privilege of collaborating with Joe on a number of initiatives during his tenure at Jonas Club Software. We are confident his industry knowledge and expertise will benefit our clients,” commented Managing Director and Partner Derek Johnston.

Media Contact:
Michael Gregory
michael.gregory@ggapartners.com

 

 

 

 

 

Creating Your Forward-Looking Capital Plan

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The process to create a capital plan begins with three questions:

1) Do you know how much capital your club requires to replace its existing assets?

2) Not including your ‘wish list’ of whiz-bang new assets like golf training technologies or new casual dining or state-of-the-art member services, do you know what your capital needs are?

3) And do you know how your club will source the required funds?

Like most club leaders, you may have answered these three critical questions with a cautious ‘no’. The fact is that few clubs are looking to the future with a bona fide capital asset replacement plan.

Here are three steps to take for beginning your club’s forward-looking capital planning:

1. Conduct a capital reserve analysis of existing assets.
Build an asset replacement spreadsheet with the following columns:

Asset Description | Useful Life | Remaining Useful Life | Replacement Value

This will yield a comprehensive view of current assets and provide the club and its future board members and operators with a clear-eyed understanding of the sums required over the upcoming 10- and 20-year time periods. With these steps, you have established your current capital needs on an annualized basis.

2. Itemize the assets you wish to add to your asset roster.
Contemporary design concepts that enhance member experiences are emerging, offering clubs greater relevance and engagement for members – new and old. Among the most popular new concepts are:

Sports Training Facilities like golf and tennis swing and stroke analysis technologies and the gamification of these technologies.

Al Fresco Dining Venues like porches and patios bring the indoors out and the outdoors in many clubs where COVID-era members grew comfortable with a little more personal space and sercouldle to navigate dining spaces more comfortably.

Swimming pools for all ages where club members require lap lanes for serious fitness swimmers, splash pads that are proving safer (than the old-school kiddie pool) for children, and resort-style pool areas for adult members.

Club leaders should plan boldly when considering new amenities. When the membership market cools, good fortune will favor the bold.

3. Identify the sources of funds that are needed.
This is the uncomfortable topic during which most club boards freeze up and seek to procrastinate. Many leaders are uncomfortable telling members that more money is required for the future.

Don’t sell your members short. If they were smart enough to join a fine club, they are smart enough to know – whether they like it or not – that club membership comes with extra costs. Furthermore, most members know that fiscal discipline and prudent financial planning are the primary duties of servant leaders. Three points to remember when thinking about club spending:

  • Members expect you to know and tell them what is required for the club’s successful future. Ignoring this fact causes members to distrust their board members.
  • Members are intolerant of board members who ignore their financial responsibilities.
  • Even those criticizing dues increases know there should be a capital plan.

Use the following best practice standards in sourcing needed funds for capital requirements:

– Begin with the understanding the monthly dues should be used to pay the club’s bills. Regular dues fund all expenses on the income statement – labor costs, operational and administrative expenses.

– Joining fees paid by incoming members are used for funding capital asset replacements. If these funds are inadequate to fully address capital replacement needs, clubs turn to debt, capital calls on members (assessments), and a combination thereof.

Planning for the future financial needs of your club should be a top priority. Following these steps will set your club on the proper path.

This article was written by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier for BoardRoom Briefs.

 

GGA Partners Renews CMAA Partnership

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GGA Partners Reinforces its Commitment to the Club Management Profession with Renewal of Club Management Association of America Partnership

West Palm Beach, FL/Alexandria, VA – The Club Management Association of America (CMAA) and GGA Partners (GGA) are pleased to announce a three-year renewal of their corporate partnership.

Through the CMAA Partnership Network, GGA Partners will continue its longstanding commitment to the club management professional. The new agreement has been designed to further enhance GGA’s contribution to CMAA’s mission with strategic research initiatives and thought leadership.

“We are delighted to continue our partnership with CMAA and their members,” commented Derek Johnston, Managing Director and Partner of GGA Partners. “Our new business partnership has been designed to deliver impactful education and industry research in the areas that will be most relevant to club leaders in the years to come.”

As a CMAA Business Partner and presenting sponsor of CMAA’s Business Management Institute (BMI) Leadership Principles, CMAA has enlisted GGA’s support with research and education targeting governance, strategy, membership, and analytics.

The partnership will benefit CMAA members through numerous initiatives, including the GGA Institute Club Perspectives research series, including several different rolling studies, each focused on a targeted group of key stakeholders: club leaders, club employees, club members and club partners. GGA will also deliver educational sessions each year that include a club strategy workshop at CMAA’s World Conference & Club Business Expo, a GGA Institute workshop at CMAA’s Leadership/Legislative Conference, educational support at BMI Leadership Principles, and other webinars, publications, podcasts, and other educational initiatives.

“We are excited to launch the next chapter in our partnership with GGA,” noted Jeff Morgan, FASAE, CAE, President & Chief Executive Officer of CMAA. “Their team of professionals are committed to supporting education and research initiatives that promote the professional development of CMAA members, and we are incredibly appreciative of the very positive impact GGA has had on our association and our members over the past 15 years as a partner.”

For more information contact:
Derek Johnston
derek.johnston@ggapartners.com

Melissa Low, CAE
Club Management Association of America
goodnews@cmaa.org

 

Building Member Trust

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Signs of distrust are everywhere, and private clubs abound with demands for greater transparency from club leaders as trust and trustworthiness are constantly being questioned.

Frustrated board members who work tirelessly in service to others can become demoralized by fellow members who demand “more transparency.” The incredibly nuanced circumstance comes down to three keys:

1. Say what you will do…and do it.
To achieve this simple-sounding advice requires that the board speaks with one voice and in writing. Too many board members become overly – and overtly – political when they are simply servant leaders within a membership of qualified leaders.

2. Communicate consistently.
Members – whether skeptical or not – want to know more. And no matter how much “more” the board provides, members assume that something is being withheld.”

Tactical steps that work:

  • Establish a standard cadence for Board communications concerning financial and governance topics. See that the club delivers to the timeline and cadence it has promised.
  • “Brand” club communications to enable members to know which they want to delete without reading. Some members have grown weary of promotional messages from the club concerning food and beverage specials…they can easily be deleted. Everyone wants to know about dues increases and capital projects.
  • The branding need not be the stuff Madmen might develop, it can be simply the Club Financial Update or Board Notes.
    Address misinformation and the bad actors behind it. Correcting inaccurate information is a service to all members. Quietly holding the bad actors to account is the duty of the board and its executive committee. Put people on notice.

3. Keep score.
Report performance results…especially if there is a miss. Taking ownership of unmet promises or misses is a part of being trustworthy. Ready examples are:

  •  Summarize last month’s financial performance, explaining whether it was on-budget, under- or over-budget. Make it easy for members to understand the information being presented from the board and management.
  • Measure engagement results. How many people signed up for the member/guest? How many had to be turned away? How many dropped out preventing others from the chance to participate? How many members voted…and did not. Everyone wants greater accountability which is a 360-degree proposition.
  • Take ownership of the misses. Owning an error, and explaining the steps that will be taken in the future to avoid making the same mistake, is a part of being trusted.

Your club can proactively move toward a more civil and reliable community when the leaders take the lead in trustworthy ways.

This article was written by GGA Partner Henry DeLozier and appeared in the January 4, 2025 edition of BoardRoom Briefs.

 

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