Next month Bruce Williams, CGCS, will join contract maintenance firm ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance in a development role. He's held the director of golf courses and grounds position the Los Angeles Country Club since 1997.
As director of business development-West, Williams will be responsible for creating new business opportunities in the western United States.
“I’ve always had great interest in the business side of the industry,” Williams says. “Those who know me would tell you I’m a business man who happens to be a golf course superintendent. The business side is extremely challenging, and I look forward to entering that arena."
Shortly after Williams decided to retire from Los Angeles Country Club, he had a discussion with Greg Pieschala, president of ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance, about potential opportunities.
ValleyCrest has worked with Williams in a professional capacity for several years through his recruitment firm, Executive Golf Search.
ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance – a division of Calabasas, Calif.-based ValleyCrest Cos., a $990 million landscape company – is the largest contract maintenance firm in the golf course industry, managing maintenance operations at 58 U.S. golf course properties. The company, which employs 75 superintendents, has grown 18 percent this year, and plans for another 15 to 20 percent next year, according to research that will appear in Golf Course Industry’s Top Management Companies List in September.
“Bruce is a great guy,” says Pieschala. “He’s extremely professional, well known and he’s held in high regard with people on all sides of the industry – not just superintendents. A business development role is a perfect fit for him.
“He’s been instrumental in doing several searches for us and bringing some important members of our team to ValleyCrest,” Pieschala says. “He has gotten a good understanding of what we do and what we need to do to be successful.”
Recruitment will not be part of Williams' job responsibilities at ValleyCrest.
“Certainly, his network will continue to help us identify strong candidates, but that’s not the role we’re looking for him to play,” Pieschala says.
Williams retires from LACC on Aug. 31; he begins his new role at ValleyCrest on Sept. 1. LACC has not yet named a replacement, says Williams, who will not take part in that search.
Williams will focus on growing ValleyCrest’s business in the Western U.S. He'll work from his home in Manhattan Beach, Calif., and report to John Crowder, vice president of business development and marketing, who's based in Richmond, Va.
Williams has been a certified golf course superintendent since 1985. He has a certificate in turfgrass management from Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in English and Speech from Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio. He has been an instructor for the College of Lake County (Illinois), the PGA of America and the GCSAA Seminar Program.
He’s held key positions within many trade organizations including president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America, Chicagoland Association of Golf Course Superintendents, Midwest Association of Golf Course Superintendents, California Golf Course Superintendents Association and the Golf Course Superintendents Association of Southern California. He also was an Honorary Director of PGA of America and a USGA Green Section Committee. Williams is currently a director of the California Alliance for Golf.
"I’m really excited about working with the great team of people that’s already been assembled," Williams says. "I’m just one small addition to that great team that already works for ValleyCrest."
