Page 18 - english winter 2017

18
Golf Business Canada
Jeff and family celebrating Canada Day at the cottage.
Gary Player attends as the keynote speaker at the 2009 Golf Business Canada Conference & Trade Show in Vancouver.
GBC: Outside of business, what are your interests?
Jeff Calderwood:
I love golf, although I can’t play as much as I would like. I’m also an avid hockey fan, among other sports. Music is also high on the list. My mother was a music teacher so it runs in the family. In the summer, weekends at the cottage rise to the top. I also enjoy traveling.
Of course, family comes first. My wife Lynn and I have three amazing daughters, Lauren, Mallory and Kristi. We spend a lot of time together, especially at the cottage, which is great.
GBC: It sounds like your vision for the NGCOA Canada may have been the “Uber” of the golf asso- ciation market. Do you see more evolution in the future of associa- tion management?
Jeff Calderwood:
I applied entrepreneurial skills to create a new business. It just happened to be a not-for-profit, so that’s a little trickier to execute.
In 1995, I remember sitting in a conference, with hundreds of association CEOs from all different industries, and the speakers on stage were professing that associations would soon have to shift from being administrative governance bodies to operating more like businesses.
I didn’t know any other way, and the NGCOA Canada was already well down the more entre- preneurial path. In hindsight, we were well ahead of the curve even though I didn’t know it at the time. I think more associations will be going in that direction in the near future.
GBC: Within that model, what was your vision for NGCOA Canada board governance?
Jeff Calderwood:
To have eight regional chapter advisory boards that link directly into the NGCOA Canada board of directors. So the entire country is well connected and executes one overall strategic plan that consists of a combination of regional and national initiatives.
All provinces are at the table as those plans are developed together, so it’s seamless and much more efficient than most associations. It has been a pleasure to work with all of our board members over the years. They are great leaders and each one volunteers their time and effort on behalf of all golf course owners and operators.
GBC: NGCOA Canada has a reputation for having a strong staff team. Can you comment on that?
Jeff Calderwood:
I am proud of the team we have built. With the number of projects we execute in our strategic plan, it is a heavy workload for most of them, so we need high achievers. We hire to fulfill that profile and then we benchmark every target we can to keep a clear focus on our goals.
We also have a very client- centric attitude, which certainly benefits golf course owners and operators. At the same time, our culture is very much “work hard – play hard,” so there are a lot of good times together with the heavy workload.
GBC: You mentioned the large number of NGCOA Canada projects that you launched over time. As you reflect on all of those, which ones are you the most proud of?
Jeff Calderwood:
Golfmax was the biggest overall success in terms of financial impact. Most modest sized associations would not take on such a complex and large project, so I think our success with Golfmax is something to be proud of.