Conference organiser Des Topp is well pleased with the progress being made with speakers lining up for the conjoint Club Managers of America supported BMI International and 8th Biennial Golf Managers Association Conferences to be held in Queenstown 4-11 October 2018.

“To fit in with the BMI Conference plenary sessions which have attracted local and overseas managers including an estimated 50 from major US clubs there is a strong influence of locals presenting on NZ’s golfing history, Maori and sporting culture and current management topics while the Golf Managers Conference has attracted speakers that fit into the conference theme of Innovate-> Change->Success.”

Preliminary Keynote Presenter profiles

David Chag – GM/COO The Country Club Brookline USA

Born and raised in New England, David Chag has held the position of general manager at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, since 1987. His involvement in the Club Managers Association of America includes serving as president of the New England Club Managers Association. He has served on numerous national committees including education and certification. He also has advised many young assistant managers employed at The Country Club, enabling them to continue in club management and gain their CCM status. Since Mr. Chag’s arrival, The Country Club—a premier setting for golf—has hosted the 1988 U.S. Open Championship, the 1995 USGA Women’s Amateur Championship, and, most recently, the 1999 Ryder Cup Matches. In addition to his responsibilities as general manager, he has instructed at the University of Houston College of Hotel and Restaurant Management and the University of Massachusetts School of Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Administration.

Martin Grunstein - CEO Success Communications Sydney, Australia

Martin Grunstein studied Psychology and Marketing at University of N.S.W. He spent four years in sales and marketing with Colgate-Palmolive before setting up 'SUCCESS COMMUNICATIONS' in 1985.

Martin's outstanding results with over 500 companies across over 100 industries have made him an in-demand speaker on Outstanding Customer Service.

Martin doesn't hype people up, he teaches techniques and how to apply them to business in the areas of professional attitude to business; understanding the ego of your customer; and how to generate the repeat and referral business that keeps the bottom line healthy.

One of Martin's strengths is his ability to customize his material to the needs and situation of an individual organisation. That is one of the strongest themes in the many "corporate testimonials" that are evidence of the success of his involvement in a conference or meeting.

Most importantly, Martin believes that entertainment is the best form of education and in his spare time he has written comedy professionally.

Martin's keynote presentations or workshops for smaller groups, will make you laugh however, it's the results you get from the techniques he delivers that will keep you smiling.

Sam Hazeldine – Managing Director MedRecruit Queenstown NZ

Sam’s energy and enthusiasm, combined with his proven and much decorated business experience form a winning combination. He truly epitomizes a speaker who can walk the talk!

Sam is an entrepreneur, acclaimed author, doctor, athlete and international speaker - he is also regarded as one of the brightest young business minds in New Zealand. The Ernst & Young – Young Entrepreneur of the Year and Sir Peter Blake Leader, he is the founder and Managing Director of Australasia’s fastest growing recruitment company, MedRecruit, which has featured in the Deloitte Fast 50 as the fastest growing service business in the country.

Sam believes that success lies at the intersection of mindset and action, he is passionate about lifting people’s sights so they can see what’s possible, and sharing the lessons he has learned to get anyone into that sweet spot, where success becomes inevitable.

Sam is the author of Head First - The Seven Habits of Highly Successful Doctors, and Unfair Fight – Give Your Small Business the Winning Advantage. In 2014 Sam was awarded the Sir Peter Blake Leadership Award.

Ngahi Bidois - Maori Cultural expert – Rotorua NZ

Ngahi lives in Rotorua, New Zealand, which is the Maori Cultural Tourist capital of the world. His full indigenous Maori name is Ngahihi o te ra and means "The Rays of the Sun". A name bestowed on him by Maori elders before he was born.
Childhood experiences with tourists from all over the world provided Ngahihi o te ra with an understanding of their cultures.

His personal life goals saw Ngahihi o te ra achieve success by the age of 26, only to find he had turned his back on his own indigenous Maori Culture. While he had worked hard to attain the relevant business knowledge and skills and was employed in the business world, he had lost his identity as an indigenous Maori of New Zealand. He did not know what it meant to be Maori.

Ngahi realigned his personal goals and based them on identity. These personal goals took him into the Education sector where he retrained and qualified before being employed in the Primary, Secondary and Tertiary sectors of Education. His employment in the Education sector has included teaching at the Primary sector in a Maori Total Immersion school, teaching and managing in the secondary sector, developing programmes and lecturing in the tertiary sector before becoming a tertiary senior manager.

These life experiences make Ngahihi o te ra a unique and authoritative speaker. Ngahi says “My passion is developing people. My Professional experiences in the business and education sectors prove to me that it is people that make a difference to profits. If you develop people at all levels of your business, you will improve your profits. One of our well known indigenous Maori proverbs speaks of people being the most important resource in this world.

This is just one of the concepts of ancient wisdom from my indigenous Maori culture which I talk about and could become a modern solution for your personal and professional lives.”

Eric Rush – Former All Black, NZ Sevens Captain, Supermarket owner Kaikohe NZ

One of NZ rugby Seven's greatest captains turned solicitor now supermarket owner and an ambassador for Maori Youth.

Eric started first-class rugby with Auckland as an explosive flanker with more pace than most backs. After transferring to North Harbour he got more regular match play and was switched to the backs in 1992.
He played 29 games for the All Blacks between 1992 and 1996 (including nine test matches). His playing career included over 200 first class matches in which he scored over 100 tries.
He was one of the world's foremost Sevens rugby players. He represented New Zealand at Sevens for 17 years and captained them to a Gold Medal victory at the 1998 Commonwealth Games at Kuala Lumpur, the World Sevens Series Title for six consecutive years, the Sevens World Cup championship in 2001, and the Gold Medal at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
As well as Rugby Union and Sevens, Eric represented New Zealand at touch rugby, New Zealand U-17 volleyball team, and won a light-heavyweight New Zealand boxing title whilst still at school.
Eric attained the Bachelor of Laws degree, and was admitted to the bar as Barrister, with eight years of corporate legal experience. He is now the Owner/Operator of a Foodstuffs Supermarket.
Career Highlights
• Played 200 First Class games of rugby, scoring 108 first class tries
• Auckland Rugby Representative 1986-1990
• North Harbour Rugby Representative 1991-2000
• NZ Maori All Blacks 1987-1998
• NZ All Black 1992 – 1996 (29 games incl 9 test matches)
• NZ Sevens 1988-2005

John Shackleton Stress and Mindfulness expert – Auckland NZ

John’s passion is showing people that, no matter what level they are currently performing at, self-limitation is what holds them back. Sport psychology teaches us about self-belief and how important it is to achieve everything we are capable of. All we need to do to raise our own game is to apply the techniques that sports people use, to our business and personal life.

He is passionate about lifting people's performance and helping them to achieve their goals. His exhilarating masterclasses put sales teams, managers and business owners through their mental paces to help them achieve best performances in their business and personal life. His personal experience and subsequent enlightenment shaped his business life, his sporting life and his speaking career and has helped him achieve great success in all three areas.

His unique background and experience has made him a powerful motivational speaker with a story borne out of life experience not trite text book theory. His humorous but hard-hitting style will have his audiences laughing and crying but more importantly they will find themselves making big changes to their thinking processes and taking greater levels of personal responsibility than ever before in their life.

Andrew Sloman -Partner BDO Auckland

Andrew has over 22 years' experience in both the delivery of external audit and risk advisory services across a broad range of clients and industry sectors. Andrew is based in Auckland but has clients across New Zealand and Australia.

Andrew enjoys working closely with Boards, Audit Committees and Management to assist them in understanding the risk profile of their business, the controls in place to mitigate those risks, and the resources required to ensure that the business risks are managed to a tolerable level.

Andrew is uniquely placed to provide Assurance solutions across all levels of governance, be it risk profiling, risk based internal audit or external audit services. This work is all done with a team of supportive specialists, and is instilled with the integrity and proximity that they pride ourselves on.

Mike Jousan – CEO Clear Communications USA

Mike Jousan is an internationally recognized speaker who is one of our nations experts on communication. Educated in his native Texas, with graduate study in advanced communications, he received an honorary doctoral degree in 1976. Mike ran for U.S. Congress in 1978 and served as consultant to the Ford Foundation.

In his varied career, he has worked as a college fundraiser, an economic development consultant, a salesperson, a political adviser, a political candidate, and a corporate education trainer. In 1988, he founded Clear Communication Company, a consulting firm specializing in all forms of person to person communication. He is the author of the books, Don't Let The Messenger They Shoot Be You! A Survival Guide For Public Speaking, Trash Those Junk Words! Make Your Point Clearly and Stop Talking Before They Stop Listening.

In consulting with corporations, he helps clients become more effective by projecting a positive visual and vocal image. He coaches executives, sports celebrities, and political candidates in on-camera comfort and confidence in high pressure circumstances. He projects a wonderful blend of energy, intelligence, confidence, sensitivity, and humor in his speeches and training sessions.

Mike has worked with companies in 29 countries throughout the world.

Ian James – Retail Tribe South Africa

Ian has spent 25 plus years working in and for the largest retailers around the world, including in the United States, as a professional, an executive, and as a consultant. His areas of specialty have included Business strategy, Supply Chain reorganization, Retail Marketing and Demand creation.

That led him into working on programs to influence customer behavior and purchasing patterns, and then into the best ways to create brand loyalty within communities. Ten years ago a friend in the golf industry asked for some assistance at his golf club.

Ian is CEO of RetailTribe, a company now dedicated to helping to create increased participation and revenues in the golf industry. RetailTribe works with many Golf Clubs, Coaching Academies, and PGA Professionals across the English-speaking world, as well as ownership groups, city boards and councils, PGA’s and Golf Associations.

Ian’s home is just outside Cape Town in South Africa, but he spends a large part of the year working in the United States.

Michelle Roland – CEO Roland Retail Scottsdale USA

Michelle Roland is a self-motivated retail management professional versed in all aspects of running multiple stores with an emphasis in the golf, fitness, spa and gift categories. Strengths include budgeting, buying, merchandising, training and staff development.

Michelle is dedicated to streamlining product portfolios and uncovering new offerings to drive retail growth and applies strong financial planning and analytical skills to assortment planning and operates with a strong sense of urgency and encourages collaboration.

Michelle’s key focus points include vendor relations, retail merchandising expertise, store planning and design, trend and emerging brand awareness, budget development, P&L management, personnel training and development.

Having successfully managed and directed several Golf Club retail operations in the US you will find Michelle is a very results-oriented person and will leave her presentation knowing that you will be returning to your teams with new tools to create the success you desire.

Norm Thompson – NZ Tourism identity

Norm Thompson has a career spanning over 45 years in the New Zealand tourism industry culminating in him retiring as the deputy CEO of Air New Zealand.

He is currently the Deputy Chairman of ATEED and on a number of tourism related industry boards, including Queenstown airport, Tourism New Zealand and the Young Enterprise Trust board.

Before his current active roles, he was the Chairman of both the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand (until October 31, 2013) and the Air New Zealand Environment Trust (until December 31, 2013)

Ryan Brandeburg - Executive Director of Golf Tourism New Zealand, Havelock North, NZ

Ryan Brandeburg is a PGA member and serves as the Executive Director of Golf Tourism New Zealand and the Golf Consultant to Tourism New Zealand. He was previously the Director of Golf for The Lodge at Kauri Cliffs and The Farm at Cape Kidnappers on the North Island of New Zealand.

Both golf courses consistently rank among the top 50 in the world. Ryan has an extensive background in private and resort operations, and has formerly served in senior management roles at Waldorf Astoria Golf Club in Orlando, Florida, and Naples Grande Golf Club in Naples, Florida.

In addition, Ryan is a contributing columnist to international golf publications including Golf Digest Korea and Golf Travel China.

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8th Biennial Golf Managers Association Conferences: Guest Speakers