Annual USGA Executive Committee Shuffle, 2010 Edition

Sadly, I've read enough of these now that all the middle-initials sound the same and with all due respect to the new nominees, there weren't any bios with much wow factor.

As usual, the buried lede is in the retirements, where the annual quality committee member/future president material is pushed off prematurely. Besides returning president Jim Hyler...

Four other current members of the Executive Committee have also been nominated to serve as officers. They are: Glen D. Nager of Washington, D.C., and Thomas J. O’Toole, Jr. of St. Louis, Mo., as vice presidents; Geoffrey Y. Yang of Menlo Park, Calif., as secretary; and Steven R. Smyers of Lakeland, Fla., as treasurer.
 
The other seven current members of the Executive Committee nominated to continue their service are: Christie L. Austin of Cherry Hills Village, Colo.; Daniel B. Burton of Lititz, Pa.; William L. Katz of Essex Fells, N.J.; Brigid Shanley Lamb of Mendham, N.J.; Christopher A. Liedel of Vienna, Va.; Gene McClure of Atlanta, Ga.; and James B. Williams of Orinda, Calif.
 
There are three newly nominated candidates for the Executive Committee for 2011: William W. Gist IV of Omaha, Neb.; Edward G. Michaels III of Atlanta, Ga.; and Diana M. Murphy of St. Simons Island, Ga.

A IIIrd and a IVth!

Gist is a dentist who received his undergraduate degree from the University of Nebraska and his DDS from the University of Nebraska College of Dentistry. He was a member of the Nebraska Golf Association’s Board of Directors from 1996 to 2006 and served as its president from 2002 to 2004. He has served on the U.S. Junior Amateur Championship Committee since 2001 and has served as a Rules official at various USGA championships, including the U.S. Senior Open, and collegiate events such as the Big 12 Championship and the NCAA Men’s Regional Championship. He won the Nebraska Mid-Amateur Championship in 2000 and is an eight-time club champion.
 
Michaels, who earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of North Carolina and his MBA from Harvard Business School, worked for McKinsey & Company in a variety of roles from 1969 to 2001 after serving as a supply corps officer in the United States Navy. Michaels served as chairman of the board of trustees for The McCallie School from 2005 to 2008 and is the founder and current chairman of the Atlanta Families’ Awards for Excellence in Education. Michaels, a former board member at Wade Hampton Golf Club, serves as chairman for the United States Seniors’ Golf Association’s Desert Invitational Tournament. He is the current senior club champion at The Vintage Club in Indian Wells, Calif.
 
Murphy is managing director for Rocksolid Holdings LLC, a private equity firm. Murphy, who received her bachelor’s degree in journalism from West Virginia University and an advanced executive business degree from Northwestern University, was formerly managing director of Chartwell Capital Management Company as well as senior vice president of advertising and marketing for the Baltimore Sun Company. She currently serves on numerous public and private boards of directors, including: Georgia Research Alliance Venture Capital Fund, Abeome Corporation, Coastal Bank of Georgia, College of Coastal Georgia, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Southeast Georgia and Landstar System, Inc. She served on the USGA Membership Committee from 1996 to 2008.

She's almost got a board for every month of the year!

Uh, isn't it kind of odd that in her bio it fails to mention she's married to Reg Murphy, former USGA President and 2006 nominating committee chair?

Mark E. Newell of McLean, Va., has been nominated to serve as the Association’s general counsel for the first time, replacing Joseph W. Anthony of Minneapolis, Minn. Newell is vice chairman and chief operating partner of Latham & Watkins LLP, which he joined in 1983. He has been a member of the firm’s Executive Committee since 1999 and served as the managing partner of the 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 received his undergraduate degree from Albion College and earned his Master in Public Policy from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.
 
Three current members of the Executive Committee will retire at the 2011 Annual Meeting: Pat Kaufman of Fort Washington, Md.; John Y. Kim of New York, N.Y.; and Cameron Jay Rains of San Diego, Calif.

Longtime readers know that I had problems with the way the entire Friends of Torrey Pines/San Diego/USGA marriage took place, but it ended up a great success in spite of Rees's insipid redo of the South. Throw in the city of San Diego's pecularities and it now looks like a minor miracle that the Open ever got there.

So after Jay Rains joined the Executive Committee, it was delighful to find him to be one of the more approachable, likeable and thoughtful committee members who seemed like an ideal presidential candidate with his combination of intelligence, savvy and love of the game. Of course, as one observer noted, he's from California and we just had Jim Vernon's presidency that went way too well, so it needs to be at least 30 years before they dare hand the keys over to someone from a state that's about to elect Jerry Brown...again.