President’s Message for December 2019
Looking forward to 2020, we welcome Nick Schulz and
Bob Delecki, who join the Board as the Ranch faces the
challenges of increasing costs and disappearing natural gas
revenues.
A very merry Christmas and a heartfelt Happy Holidays
to all of you and your loved ones!
As the year draws to a close it is a good time to remember
what we promised against what we actually
accomplished, and to identify the challenges we’ll be
facing in 2020.
The 2020 Board’s first order of business will be to engage
in the process of molding itself into a high functioning
team. Every Board’s primary focus must be to ensure the
sustainability of the Association. Its primary goal is to make
certain the Club is stronger in every way as the results of
their business planning and execution.
The first President’s Message of 2019 noted two major
goals for the year.
The first goal: identifying and installing a new General
Manager. We didn’t know in January that Eric Johnson
would leave us at the end of August. Fortunately, a long-
standing and very business-like approach to succession
planning prepared Brian Rogers to be the obvious choice
to replace him – and early evidence indicates that choice
was a wise one. Brian is bringing a fresh approach to
running the Ranch’s operations that simultaneously
honors our traditions and seeks opportunities to install
private club industry best practices that will enable us to
better meet the challenges ahead.
The Board must remain true to its strategic planning
process – constantly assessing the effectiveness of our
implementation efforts and adjusting quickly to changes
that require us to reassess our internal strengths and
weaknesses as well as opportunities and threat arising from
outside the organization.
Critically, the Board will be exploring better ways to inform
our members of its thinking. We are also seeking better
ways to gather your input and feedback. In turn, we will
be expecting each of you – the members - to read, question,
learn, and support the Board’s efforts to strengthen the
Association.
The second goal was to complete a five-year strategic plan.
In August the Board approved that plan, complete with
measureable goals rooted in our Mission Statement and
our traditions. The plan made good use of an extensive
effort to incorporate real-time input from our members
and other stakeholders. Of at least equal importance,
the Board adopted a perpetual strategic planning process
that ensures our future planning efforts will be ongoing
and systematic.
As the year progresses let us all remember to honor our
volunteers, celebrate our hard working staff, and do what
we can to make our Club more inviting to new and
prospective members.
As always, your comments are most welcome. Happy New
Year to all of us!
Closing the book on 2019 wouldn’t be complete without
a heartfelt thankyou to Nancy Thurston and Fred Calabro
as they complete their tenure on the Board. Both of these
individuals have worked tirelessly on behalf of the Ranch.
Their contributions have helped improve the Club, and
all of us are the better for their service as Directors.
Respectfully,
Ray Karbon
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