Page 4 - July_August 2019 Kwasind

NEW GENERAL MANAGER - NEW BEGINNING
Jamie Keating
Commodore commodore@rcyc.ca
Hi everyone – Thank you for placing your trust in me, and in our Board. With so many RCYC Members that care deeply and volunteer generously, to be just involved is an honour. I am also pleased to be joined by new Board Members: Vice Commodore Paul Marcaccio and Members-at–Large: Amelie Beauregard, Doug Farrand, Judy Hauserman, Karen McRae and Andrew Whiting, as well as all our good returning Board Members.
And a huge welcome to our new GM & COO Mr. Neil Rooney, with thanks our search team led by Chris Mitchele, Roberta Hague, Kari MacKay and Terry Brazill, for guiding our hiring process.
Our Club thrives, but we also face challenges. First, our strengths. As Chris and others have highlighted in this space before, we have full programs, two beautiful properties and a shared love of sailing, fitness, squash, tennis, badminton, lawn bowling, bridge and just plain enjoying each others’ company. Indeed, our vibrant social scene supported by great F&B has long been the ‘glue’ that holds the ship together.
Beyond our Club’s seawalls, we are represented at the highest level by our competitive junior and senior sailors, our internationally-recognized race officers and jury members, our proficient and international cruisers, for our multiple levels of squash players & competitive teams – and the list goes on. These are just some examples of Members that keep our RCYC brand strong and we thank them for it. By a leadership role in hosting ‘clean’ regattas and striving toward a ‘blue flag’ marina, we can stay close to the forefront on our environmental responsibility. Let’s applaud the foresight of Doug Bullock, Mike Newbury, Mark Turuk, Nick Diano and so many others as drivers of this key Club operative. Most poignantly, we have a truly altruistic group of Members with a record for giving back to our community (see ‘RCYC Outreach’ on our website). I would like to think we can continue building on this effort and I’m excited to announce a new ‘fun- raiser’ to support Toronto’s Ronald McDonald House Make Fun Matter campaign. On Sunday, August 18th, we can support families in need with an anything- goes, around-our-islands RCYC Paddlethon. Bring your family SUP’s, canoes, dinghies or water-bikes to circumnavigate our lagoons in support of a great cause. Celebrating all this is what makes ours a vibrant, diverse and inviting community.
The depth of our RCYC volunteerism is hard to fathom. Our Members serve on standing committees, on task forces, on fleets, for regattas, for cruises, and for wine dinners...for annual balls and for speaking events, for our gardens and for countless other Club causes... and now again, for our Race Committees. This latest adventure, of re-installing our volunteer Member race corps, is consistent with our past and with many best-in- class global peer sailing clubs. The early gains made by Martha Henderson and her team of both inside-and- outside-the-Club Race Management leaders, coupled with our Sailing Office, is a testament to our Club’s spirit of cooperation between Member and Staff. I see this as a growing strength and we as a Board will continue working to advance this collaborative environment.
As with many clubs these days, we have our share of challenges. Navigating the ‘graceful aging’ of our Club, both our Membership and our facilities, should be key priorities. I believe this could involve a further streamlining of our Membership categories. We can also redouble our attention on long-term maintenance and Capital spending plans to sharpen up the state of our facilities.
I would like to encourage our GM & COO Neil Rooney with his Management Team, to look at two areas of focus: (1) accelerating a cooperative culture of continual improvement in Member Services across all our departments, and (2) optimizing our Club’s overall cost structure. I’m a big believer in Member referrals being our most potent driver of a healthy, growing Membership. To that end, leadership in programming, friendly service and good value for fees keeps our Members happiest. This will be contagious with friends, acquaintances and club-seekers.
Each year, your Nominating Committee designs our Board to bring leadership and skill sets suited for our times, our challenges and opportunities, but above all, to fairly represent our Member interests and needs. I will make it my priority, and that of our Board, to foster a consultative, responsive approach to your input. Please feel free to reach out at Commodore@rcyc.ca or mrjamiekeating@gmail.com and I will do my best to answer you. All we ask is patience and understanding as we on-board our new General Manager, take time to consider changes and then strive forward with keeping this RCYC of ours one of the world’s prettiest and strongest sailing clubs, anywhere.
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JULY/AUGUST 2019 • KWASIND
COMMODORE MESSAGE