The Assistant General Manager from The Country Club in Chestnut Hill, Mass., will be recognized as a co-winner of the 2018 “Rising Star” Award at the Annual Awards Dinner at the Nashville City Club on February 25, through the Excellence in Club Management Awards sponsored by the McMahon Group, Club & Resort Business and the National Club Association.
McMahon Group, Inc., the St. Louis-based consulting firm, and Club & Resort Business have announced the 2018 recipients of the Excellence in Club Management (ECM) Awards, established in 1997 by the McMahon Group and co-sponsored since 2005 by C&RB. For the 2018 awards, the National Club Association has also become an ECM sponsor.
The annual awards are selected through nominations submitted on behalf of qualified candidates by other parties. Award recipients are selected solely on the basis of their achievements at the club they currently manage; “lifetime achievements” are not considered.
A Selection Committee comprised of a peer group of club managers conducts the judging for the ECM Awards; the McMahon Group, C&RB and the National Club Association are not involved in the selection of the winners.
The Selection Committee for the 2018 Awards was chaired by Jeffrey Kreafle, CCM, General Manager/COO of Congressional Country Club, Bethesda, Md.. A full listing of judges, in addition to information on past winners and on how to nominate candidates for future years’ awards, can be found at the special website for the ECM Awards, www.clubmanageraward.com.
All of the winners will be honored at the Excellence in Club Management Awards Dinner at the Nashville (Tenn.) City Club on February 25, in conjunction with the 2018 World Conference of the Club Management Association of America. This year’s Awards Dinner will be sponsored by Denehy Club Thinking Partners, ForeTees LLC, C. Mondavi & Family, Preferred Club and Yamaha Golf Car.
Individual award ceremonies will also be held at the winners’ respective clubs throughout 2019, and in-depth articles detailing the achievements that led to the selection of the winners will appear in issues of C&RB throughout the year.
Here is a summary of the nomination that earned ECM recognition for Kristen LaCount.
2018 Rising Star Award
Kristen B. LaCount, CCM, ECM
Assistant General Manager
The Country Club
Chestnut Hill, Mass.
In Kristen LaCount’s case, the “A” in “AGM” stands for “Acting” General Manager as much as “Assistant,” according to David Chag, CCM, General Manager of The Country Club. “Kristen more than qualifies as a ‘Rising Star,’” wrote Chag in nominating her for recognition in that category. “She has ‘risen’ in my eyes.
“We have focused her professional development on being an Acting General Manager,” Chag explained. “Kristen is included in meetings I schedule, she attends the Executive Committee meetings, and regularly will attend Board meetings. She is on the U.S. Open 2022 Executive Committee and directly involved with the Chair.
“Kristen is an active participant in all community-outreach objectives,” Chag added. “She is active at all levels of leadership and governance, and is there for my weekly breakfast with the Club President.”
With two young children and a husband who owns and operates two successful restaurants in the Boston area, Chag also expressed special admiration for how LaCount exemplifies “a successful woman in this business who manages home life and club operations flawlessly.
“I could not have done as well as she is performing,” he said.
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