Month: August 2026

Executive Search: General Manager/COO, Tacoma WA Club

Date:

General Manager/Chief Operating Officer
Confidential New Private Club
Tacoma Washington

CLUB OVERVIEW

A new experience in the Seattle/Tacoma area, the club will combine racquets, fitness, a luxury spa, wellness, aquatics, fine and casual dining, and more into one of the most comprehensive private club offerings in the region.

Centered around an incredible waterfront setting with views of Mount Rainier, the club is currently in the design phase, with world-renowned architects Olson Kundig helping to shape the incredible buildings that will host this new community. Bolstered by a condo development on site, the private club will look to bring together over a thousand families and individuals looking for a private escape complemented by world-class amenities and service.

Club construction starts in 2027, with opening expected in 2028. The General Manager/Chief Operating Officer (“GM/COO”) would be expected to start in late 2026/early 2027 as the first employee of the club, being a critical part of the pre-opening process.

The club will be owned privately by a team with over 20 years of experience in real estate and ownership of numerous other properties in the immediate community. In-depth market research and financial analysis have been performed to strategically determine the vision, market positioning, and amenity profile for the club.


POSITION SUMMARY

This position is a unique opportunity to be an integral part of building a new private club.

The GM/COO of the club will be the first club employee and a key stakeholder in the building of the club’s operating teams, practices, standards, culture, and ultimately will be responsible for all day-to-day operations and P&L.

The GM/COO will join the club at a pivotal time and will support ownership through finalizing designs and project management through the building of the club. During this time, the GM/COO will be building out operational teams, standards, and crucially supporting in pre-sales for membership and planning for the grand opening of the club.

Upon opening, the GM/COO will be a highly visible leader to both members and employees, while owning the club P&L and leading the planning and reporting processes for the club.

 

View Full Position Description & Requirements

Apply for the Position

SEARCH EXECUTIVE TEAM

 

Michael Gregory
Managing Director & Partner 
michael.gregory@ggapartners.com

 

 

 

Murray Blair
Director
murray.blair@ggapartners.com

 

 

Evan Van Eerd
Director
evan.vaneerd@ggapartners.com

 

2026 Club Board Perspectives

Date:

Club Board Perspectives

Insights from Club Boards:
Long-Term Success Through Human Capital, Financial Health and a Future Focus

Private club boards are, by their own accounts, doing well: confident in their governance, financial stewardship and strategic direction. This year’s research tested that confidence against the practices, data, and documentation that would support it and found that belief and the actions to support it don’t always move together.

The 2026 Club Board Perspectives research, conducted in collaboration with the National Club Association (NCA), surveyed private club board members across North America on employer-of-choice standing, financial stewardship, and strategic focus. Rather than reporting averages alone, this year’s findings are built around a diagnostic framework: each finding names a potential governance gap, identifies its structural cause, and pairs it with a specific fix a board can act on.

In these reports, GGA Partners examines a pattern that recurs across all three research areas: board confidence consistently outpaces the evidence supporting it. On employer of choice, 66% of boards consider their club an employer of choice, yet fewer than four in ten report a market-referenced compensation philosophy, and the governance behavior most closely tied to that status rates only moderately. On financial health, 73% of boards believe their financial model is long-term focused, but nearly a third have no current capital reserve study behind that claim. On strategic focus, 73% of boards score as operationally anchored, with committee structures that surface updates rather than recommendations, which is most closely tied to that drift.

Together, these findings point to a governance opportunity: closing the distance between what boards believe and the actions that support those beliefs. Each article that follows explores this gap and attaches concrete questions and action steps a board can act on.

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE
WHY BELIEF ISN’T INFRASTRUCTURE

Two-thirds of board members consider their club an employer of choice. This year’s research separates the boards that claim the label from those that have built the governance behind it and provides boards with a series of questions to determine where they stand and what steps to take next.

Read More

 

PROTECTING FINANCIAL HEALTH
FALSE CONFIDENCE OR LONG-TERM FOCUS

Boards express strong confidence in their clubs’ long-term financial practices. This research examines a deeper question: whether that confidence can be substantiated. The findings show where the proof is missing and provide boards with a pathway to get on the right financial track.

Read More

 

STRATEGIC FOCUS
SMALL DECISIONS DETERMINE LONG-TERM SUCCESS

Boards say they are building a long-term brand by focusing on the future. The data reveals that daily habits are quietly pulling in the opposite direction, with operational meetings, reactive decisions, and informal recruiting limiting this goal.

Read More

 

 

Learn More About This Research
Download the Full Research Report

The Authors

Michael Gregory
Managing Director & Partner

Neil Brown
Executive Director

Dr. Eric Brey
Director

Evan Van Eerd
Director

 

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