San Diego, Calif. (Feb. 3, 2013) -- Glen D. Nager, of Washington, D.C., has been elected to serve a second one-year term as the 62nd president of the United States Golf Association. The election of officers and the 15-member USGA Executive Committee also took place at the USGA’s Annual Meeting in San Diego.
Nager, 54, will continue to lead the Association’s 300-plus professional staff and more than 1,200 volunteers who serve on more than 30 committees.
“I am honored to serve another year as the president of the USGA, and continue to work with our talented staff, dedicated volunteers and experienced Executive Committee members,” said Nager. “Golf continues to face complex challenges on a global level. As the sport’s governing body in the U.S., it is our obligation to focus on areas that make the game better and that are necessary to sustain the game well into the future.”
During his first term, Nager, a Houston native, has focused the Association’s priorities and resources to address the issues confronting the game: stagnant participation, the challenges of financial and environmental sustainability, the game’s globalization, and the need to make golf more welcoming to a diverse audience.
“Over the past year, along with Executive Director Mike Davis and guided by the priorities set forth in our new five-year strategic plan,” said Nager, “we have established great momentum in our work to preserve and protect the game; developing new initiatives to make the game more fun, less expensive, and more welcoming; and working with our partners throughout the golf community to ensure that the game that grows worldwide is essentially the same game that we are entrusted to protect.”
In his Annual Meeting remarks, Nager said that he will continue to work to preserve and protect the game, while strengthening the Association’s core functions of hosting premier national championships, building a greater appreciation for the Rules of Golf, promoting the game to broader, more diverse audiences, advocating a more environmentally responsible vision, and embracing the increased globalization of the game.
“We forward to Glen’s continued leadership as we work to provide stronger governance and take stronger action for the game,” said Davis. “Given his organizational skills and business knowledge, Glen is ideally suited to lead the organization into the future and our progress in the past year reflects his many contributions to the USGA and the game.”
The chair of the Issues and Appeals Practice at Jones Day and a partner in the global law firm’s Washington, D.C., office, Nager is an expert litigator who has argued 13 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court. A graduate of the University of Texas and Stanford Law School, Nager served as a clerk for retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who helped foster his passion for golf. A single-digit handicapper who took up the game in his 30s, Nager is in his fifth year as a member of the USGA Executive Committee, a term that includes two years as a USGA vice president. He served as general counsel of the USGA from 2006 to 2008.
At the USGA Annual Meeting, four other current members of the Executive Committee were elected to serve as officers: Thomas J. O’Toole Jr., of St. Louis, and Daniel B. Burton, of Lititz, Pa., as vice presidents; William L. Katz, of Chatham, N.J., as secretary; and Diana M. Murphy, of St. Simons Island, Ga., as treasurer.
The other six current members of the Executive Committee continuing their service are: Karen S. Ammerman, M.D., of Webster, Mass.; William E. Fallon, of Pittsburgh; William W. Gist IV, of Omaha, Neb.; Edward G. Michaels III, of Atlanta; Mark P. Reinemann, of Pewaukee, Wis.; and Gary R. Stevenson, of San Francisco.
There are four newly elected members of the Executive Committee for 2013: Peter M. Castleman, of Glenbrook, Nev.; C. Malcolm Holland III, of Dallas; Sheila C. Johnson, of Middleburg, Va.; and Mark E. Newell, of McLean, Va. In addition, Ernest J. Getto, of Santa Barbara, Calif., has been elected to serve as USGA general counsel.
Peter M. Castleman, 56, is owner of Westwind Investors, a private investment firm that he founded in 2006. He is also a consultant to J.H. Whitney & Co., a private equity firm providing capital to small-and middle-market companies. Prior to joining Whitney in 1987, Castleman held a number of professional investment positions, and served as a teaching fellow in economics at Harvard University. He earned his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar, and his B.A. from Duke, from which he graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa with honors in Economics. Peter also studied at New College, Oxford University. Castleman describes himself as a passionate golfer, and is a member of Clear Creek Tahoe at Lake Tahoe, Nev.
C. Malcolm Holland III, 52, is chairman of the board, CEO and president of Veritex Community Bank and its holding company, Veritex Holdings, Inc. Veritex Community Bank has 10 branches serving North Texas with more than $500 million in assets. Holland is a member of Preston Trail Golf Club and Lakewood Country Club, where he has served in many capacities including president in 1995 and1996. He has served on the board of the Texas Golf Association since 1999, and has held a position on its executive committee since 2000, serving as president in 2007 and 2008. Since 2004, he has served as chairman of College Golf Fellowship, a ministry for college golfers and coaches across the country.
Sheila C. Johnson, 63, is CEO and founder of Salamander Hotels & Resorts, which oversees a growing portfolio of luxury golf and family resort properties, including Grand Golf Resorts of Florida and the Salamander Resort & Spa, which will open in August 2013 in Middleburg, Va. Johnson is also vice chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment and president and managing partner of the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. She is the only African-American woman to have ownership in three professional sports teams – holding stakes in the NBA’s Washington Wizards and the NHL’s Washington Capitals – and would become the first female African-American member of the USGA Executive Committee. A powerful influence in the entertainment industry since her work as founding partner of Black Entertainment Television, Johnson has served as executive producer of four documentary films as well as a major motion picture “The Butler,” to be released in fall 2013.
In 2011, Johnson joined the AOL Huffington Post Media Group as strategic advisor for Multicultural and African-American Initiatives. She also serves on the boards of Parsons The New School for Design in New York City, the Sundance Institute, the Tiger Woods Foundation and the ANNIKA Foundation.
Mark E. Newell, 56, is a retired vice chairman and chief operating partner of Latham & Watkins LLP, which he joined in 1983. He had been a member of the firm’s Executive Committee since 1999 and served as the managing partner of its Washington, D.C., office from 1993 to 2000. Newell served as a law clerk to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. from 1982 to 1983. Newell, who earned his Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School in 1981, served as editor and treasurer of the Harvard Law Review. He earned his undergraduate degree from Albion College and earned his Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard. In addition to having serving as the USGA’s general counsel, Newell currently chairs the Course Rating and Handicap committees, and serves on the Amateur Status, Audit, Communications, GHIN, Equipment Standards and Mid-Amateur committees. He is a member of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Va.
Ernest J. Getto, 68, has been a managing director of Burford Group LLC since January 2011, and previously served as national chairman and a partner in the litigation department at Latham & Watkins LLP. Getto has more than 40 years of corporate litigation experience, representing a diverse group of corporate clients, including Georgia Pacific, PG&E, Occidental Petroleum, IBM, Mobil, Siemens and many others. He is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, and a member of the Board of Governors of the Association of Business Trial Lawyers. Getto has enjoyed the game of golf for 53 years, playing in high school and college, and serving on the boards of The Valley Club of Montecito in Montecito, Calif., and Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles, where he is also a member of The Los Angeles Country Club.
Four members of the Executive Committee retired at the 2013 Annual Meeting: Christie L. Austin, of Cherry Hills Village, Colo.; Gene McClure, of Atlanta; James B. Williams, of Orinda, Calif.; and Geoffrey Y. Yang, of Atherton, Calif.
