Thomas B. Wallace III, CCM, CCE, ECM, Partner

Tom, before joining the firm in 2014, becoming a partner in 2016 and named managing partner in 2019 – KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE – served in club management at some of the country’s most recognized private clubs. Tom’s club management career spans over 25 years in the private golf, country, and community club industry.

Most recently Tom served as General Manager/Chief Executive Officer for The Club at Mediterra in Naples, FL. He also applied his leadership skills for a decade as the General Manager/Chief Administrative Officer at Oakmont Country Club in Oakmont, PA, where the club, under his guidance, hosted three major championships in a seven-year period, including the 2010 U.S. Women’s Open, the 2007 U.S. Open and the 2003 U.S. Amateur. The USGA regarded the 2007 U.S. Open Championship as the “Gold Standard Open” for the modern era. Prior to that, Tom spent fourteen years at The Country Club in Pepper Pike, OH.

In 2007, Tom received the Excellence in Club Management Award as the top performing manager, presented annually by McMahon Group, Club + Resort Business, National Club Association, and voted on by a panel of industry experts.

He has also been active in the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) including numerous committee roles locally and nationally and served as the Pittsburgh Chapter President in 2010.

Tom speaks often at local and national CMAA educational events and has also presented internationally at the European Club Leadership Summit and the Club Manager Association of Europe (CMAE) National Conference. Tom is a faculty member of CMAA’s Business Management Institute I (BMI I) at Georgia State University and the recipient of the 2020 Gary Player Educator of the Year Award.

Tom is currently the chair of National Club Association’s Membership Committee and a member of the Governance Committee. Additionally, Tom is a national board member for Tee It Up For The Troops.

Tom is known for his experience in transformational leadership, and he is recognized as the architect of some of the most loyal and high-performing teams of associates during his management days. His educational contributions to the industry have provided countless clubs, managers, and directors with clarification of goals, objectives, and “club culture” attributes necessary for establishing outstanding platforms and metrics to success.

Email: tom@kkandw.com

Phone: 412-670-2021

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Resources & Insights from Tom…

Actively challenging the status quo, not for the sake of disruption itself, but to create significant improvements, is a leadership attribute many clubs are looking for in their executive leaders. But how do you balance disruption and being disruptive in a private club environment?

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Hospitality is an imperfect business and while you can plan to deliver the highest levels of product and service consistently, even the world’s best service providers have breakdowns.

Planning for inevitable mistakes separates the best businesses from the average ones…

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In order for clubs to maintain a high level of performance and overall success, they must adopt best practices that promote continuous improvement and accountability.

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Over time, while completing executive placements for private clubs and when reaching out to top-performing general managers, we have consistently been surprised to discover that in many scenarios there is a subjective process for performance evaluation or not one at all.

This is concerning as we often see a connection between managers who aren’t receiving feedback and managers who are being let go from their positions…

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An eager and extremely qualified GM begins a new job with a great club. The club president and board give the new GM goals and set initiatives.

Everyone is excited about the new working relationship. Within a year or two, the GM completes the initiatives set forth … yet confusion and frustration begin to arise in factions of the membership. Then those feelings begin to spread to more members. Soon the staff also begins to raise concerns that are then fueled by members’ frustrations … all because members and employees don’t know or understand the board’s directions to the GM. The problems snowball and suddenly the GM is let go … even though the GM did exactly what the board asked the GM to do.

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For the Outlook 2024 Pulse Survey question, “What do you think are the major issues affecting private clubs today?” one reply read:

“Lack of volunteerism within the club, from committee involvement to sitting on the board of directors. Our newer members are not as engaged in governance and would rather someone else do it.”

To address this very common lament of club managers and help to strengthen overall club governance in the year ahead, there will be a stronger focus on these best practices…

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Who are you? Do you have a brand, an identity? “To know thyself is the beginning of wisdom,” Socrates tells us. If you haven’t done the work of introspection to answer that question, I recommend you do. It is truly the first day of the rest of your life when you can answer the question, “Who am I?”

What about your Club? Do you know your Club? I’m sure you have a mission statement. I’m sure you have a cursory idea, at least, of your demographics. You probably have the full details of your amenities. You should be aware of your leadership style. Most of us know those things. But how many of us really know our club’s story? The uniqueness, the traditions, the intangibles that make up who we are as a Club…

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