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John Schultz Joins CLA

Industry Veteran to Lead Club Leadership Alliance

On June 16, 2022 the Club Leadership Alliance launched a new chapter with the announcement that acclaimed, award-winning former private club General Manager John M. Schultz, CCM, CCE is joining the team as CEO. This heralds an expansion of the CLA offerings and increased industry presence for the Club Leadership Alliance and its partner firms. Established in June 2020, the CLA is comprised of partner firms KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, McMahon Group, and Club Benchmarking.

After 18 years leading 36-hole member-owned Carmel Country Club (Charlotte, NC) to recognition as one of the country’s most successful, family-oriented private golf clubs, John Schultz brings numerous strengths to the Club Leadership Alliance and clubs seeking to improve the effectiveness and success of their governance and operations. Under Schultz’s leadership as General Manager, Carmel Country Club’s achievements included implementation of waiting lists in all membership categories, the increase of initiation fees by 100%, and improvement of the club’s net worth by approximately $40 million following close to $60 million of capital improvements.

Schultz sees his new role at the Club Leadership Alliance as an exciting opportunity to partner with the industry’s best. “By combining forces around our shared expertise and vision, we’re helping private clubs increase their value, elevate member experiences, and achieve new levels of success in all areas.”

Individually, the three CLA partner firms are national leaders in the private club industry, with over 3,000 clubs served. Together, KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, McMahon Group, and Club Benchmarking have collaborated for more than a decade. By pooling their expertise, data, and resources, the partner firms increase the reach of their individual offerings, which remain independent, while providing new and increased opportunities through the CLA for private clubs to become top performers.

Club Benchmarking Founder and CLA Partner Ray Cronin said Schultz brings a unique skillset to CLA that was the “secret sauce” behind Carmel becoming one of the industry’s greatest clubs. “The innovations, discipline, and vision John Schultz brought to Carmel’s strategic governance program have been emulated at top clubs nationwide. Now, as CEO, Schultz will work with the three CLA partner firms to drive the industry forward by helping clubs seeking to transform their leadership models and embrace best practices.”

Why so Many Country Clubs are Undertaking Massive Capital-Improvement Projects – Golf Digest

There’s beach volleyball, a soccer field, basketball courts, batting cages, tennis (obviously), pickleball, bocce, a pool with a “splash zone” for kids, a pool with an island in the middle, and two lap pools so that you can swim without interruption while listening to music through the underwater speakers. There’s an AMF bowling alley with arcade games like air hockey and pinball. Around the corner there’s a wall-to-wall Lego area and a “dream room” where overstimulated kids are snoozing, a 23-seat movie theater with a fully stocked snack bar, steam rooms, TV rooms and wine cellars for storing and sampling.

This article is from Golf Digest, read it entirely by clicking HERE

Club Trends WEBINAR VIDEO: Creating Club Culture – It Begins with Orientations

In this webinar industry experts and insiders from McMahon Group, Kopplin Kuebler & Wallace and the National Club Association share with you insights from the latest issue of Club Trends, “Creating Club Culture—It Begins with Orientations.” Our team provided the highlights from this issue including best practices for board and committee orientations and strategies for onboarding new members and staff.

Thank you for watching.

A Commitment to Best Practices

A Commitment to Best Practices

One thing is always consistent with the strongest leaders and clubs: They are fiercely focused on understanding and implementing the industry’s best standards and practices.

As I travel the country, I have the opportunity to observe many extraordinary club leaders and see many great clubs. One thing is always consistent with the strongest leaders and clubs: They are fiercely focused on understanding and implementing the industry’s best standards and practices. It doesn’t matter if clubs are running at top speed or just coming out of the starter blocks, those who keep industry best practices as the guideposts always stay on track, even during challenging times.

These practices are important and must be understood for clubs to evolve and succeed. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: “Your desire to change must be greater than your desire to stay the same.”

Evolution is hard but necessary for our great industry. It may seem as though we are beating people over the head with these best practices, but I’m going to keep reminding everyone about them because they aren’t as generally accepted as they should be.

Informed Leadership Best Practices

  • Continuously educate stakeholders (boards, committees, members and staff ) on industry trends, best practices and important societal trends impacting the private club industry.
  • Conduct mandatory and comprehensive orientations for all stakeholders.
  • Adopt the fact-based private club business model and related financial best practices. Establish Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and use them to drive decision-making.
  • Embrace data-driven leadership rooted in strong governance principals. Ensure transparent communication to all stakeholders.

Informed leadership creates the best possible stakeholders who fully understand their role and the role of others in the organization. Every club should strive to create a culture of constant learning from service to governance through education and training. Constant learning for every board member, committee member and the entire staff is the foundation for these best practices.

Strategic Stewardship

  • Develop and maintain an effective strategic plan.
  • Protect, preserve and grow the assets through comprehensive capital planning that addresses obligatory and aspirational improvements with a unified master plan.
  • Enhance member value by creating innovative club experiences.
  • Ensure seamless transitions of boards, committees and senior staff.

Keep stakeholders on target. The best way to do this is to use a strategic road map for where you are going and then constantly remind everyone to keep them on track.

Empowered Management and Team

  • Create and maintain robust systems for talent acquisition, retention and professional development.
  • Utilize proven performance management systems to set goals and measure outcomes.
  • Perform regular team engagement surveys and compare them to benchmarks. Act on survey results.

Managers and management teams who are empowered and trusted to lead the club will do so nicely with pride and enthusiasm.

Compelling Member Experience

  • Match member expectations to the club’s primary purpose. Evolve and adapt as necessary.
  • Measure member needs, preferences and satisfaction on a regular basis.
  • Provide a value proposition that cultivates highly engaged, loyal and satisfied members who think like owners.
  • Present a relevant experience that easily attracts the next generation of members.

Creating a compelling member experience and a compelling team experience is a direct result of a club that functions on the best practices detailed above.

Additionally, there are two emerging practices that would benefit many clubs: 1) Managers and board presidents meeting quarterly with the club’s past presidents to keep them informed, provide education on the “issues of the day,” and use their counsel to guide in the decision-making process. 2) We are seeing local Presidents’ Councils form (with the help of regional club managers) as a way for club presidents to share ideas and data. This has been especially important during COVID-19 but also helpful for everything affecting clubs such as water issues, labor challenges, programming and amenities. The gathering and sharing of information continue to build on the culture of education and informed decision-making in which all these best practices are centered around.

Contributed by Thomas B. Wallace III, CCM, CCE, ECM
Partner, KOPPLIN, KUEBLER & WALLACE
Connect at tom@kkandw.com or 412-670-2021.

National Club Association – Club Director – Spring 2021

WEBINAR VIDEO: Club Trends Winter Outlook 2021 – The Member-Centric Club

The Winter Outlook Webinar was held on Thursday, February 18, 2021. Listen to this recording to hear from the Club Trends authors speak and answer questions about topics covered in this issue.

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WEBINAR VIDEO: City Clubs – Thriving Not Just Surviving

The City Club – Thriving Not Just Surviving webinar was live on January 14, 2021. Hosted by the Club Leadership Alliance (McMahon Group, Kopplin Kuebler & Wallace and Club Benchmarking) and Henry Wallmeyer, President & CEO of the National Club Association to share their experiences which address how the club world is changing and especially how city clubs must change with it. 

A City Club Manager Roundtable from some of the most successful city club managers in the nation (Jeffrey McFadden, John Dorman and Matthew Allnatt) capped the webinar to show where the city club of the future is going and how to be sure your club is one of them.