ONE OF THE THINGS I enjoy most about my job is the opportunity to travel across the country seeing the finest private clubs in operation, meeting the talented staffs, and speaking to club boards, club committees and general managers. It gives me the chance to continue to increase my knowledge of the industry and specifically the successes and challenges clubs are encountering. It also gives the people I meet the opportunity to learn about industry issues from NCA’s perspective—especially on the advocacy front—and the things they need to be doing that protect their private and tax-exempt status and other risk management issues.
For the cover story of this issue of Club Director, “Preventing Legal Risk” we posed those questions to some of NCA’s corporate partners and associate members. The result is a very informative and important piece that will help you and your club proactively protect yourself. One of the things I hear also, is “We are a private club, that doesn’t apply to us.” While that might be a great answer if it worked for everything, it unfortunately doesn’t. For example, if your clubs shows movies it needs to have a license to do so. If you include alcohol in your food and beverage minimums, you could be opening the club to liability. Are you paying the correct amount in hourly wages and overtime? The sound advice from these legal experts will make sure that you are doing your due diligence to not only avoid legal headaches, but also to protect the club from legal challenges, including the board, members and staff.
If you have questions that you would like answered, please send them our way. NCA’s resources, such as our National Club Conference, our vast library of resources, our expert staff, including the industry’s only dedicated lobbyist, as well as our vibrant network of corporate partners and associate members can provide you with critical information to help your club. We are always available to help, so please do not hesitate to reach out. I hope to see you in my travels!
Henry Wallmeyer
President & CEO