John O’Keefe elected GCSAA president (March 1)

March 1, 2015 – John J. O’Keefe, director of golf course management at Preakness Hill Country Club in Wayne, N.J., has been elected to a one-year term as president of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America for 2015.

O’Keefe, CGCS, served as vice president of the association in 2014 and has been a member of the association’s board of directors since 2008. A 35-year member of GCSAA, O’Keefe also is a member and past president of both the GCSA of New Jersey and the Metropolitan GCSA.

A native of Pittsfield, Mass., the 58-year-old O’Keefe earned an associate’s degree from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He succeeds Keith A. Ihms, CGCS and golf course maintenance manager at Bella Vista Village in Bella Vista, Ark., who served as president for 2014 and will move to a final one-year term on the board as immediate past president.

Other elected officers were Peter J. Grass, CGCS and superintendent at Hilands Golf Club in Billings, Mont., as vice president; and Bill H. Maynard, CGCS and director of golf course maintenance operations at St. Albans Country Club in St. Louis, as secretary/treasurer.

Three others were re-elected and will continue service on the nine-member board. They are Darren J. Davis, CGCS and superintendent at Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, Fla., John R. Fulling Jr., CGCS and grounds and facilities manager at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Country Club, and Mark F. Jordan, CGCS and natural resource leader at Westfield Group Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio.

Rafael Barajas, CGCS and superintendent at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights, Calif., will continue on the board as a director, while Kevin P. Breen, CGCS, was appointed to the board and will serve a one-year term.

Patrick R. Finlen, CGCS and general manager at the Olympic Club in San Francisco, Calif., retires from the board after serving the last year as immediate past president.

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