GCSAA elects Ihms president

GCSAA elected Keith A. Ihms, CGCS, (pictured at right in photo) as its president for 2014 at the association's annual meeting today. Ihms, who is the director of grounds maintenance at the Country Club of Little Rock (Ark.), received the gavel from 2013 GCSAA President Patrick R. Finlen, CGCS, (pictured at left in photo) who remains on the board of directors as immediate past president.

"I never thought this (podium) would be a place that I would stand, but I'm standing here because of these great guys standing behind me," said Ihms of the the GCSAA directors and past presidents on the stage.

John J. O'Keefe, CGCS, the director of golf course management at Preakness Hills Country Club in Wayne, N.J., was elected vice president, and Peter J. Grass, CGCS, the superintendent at Hilands Golf Club in Billings, Mont., was elected secretary/treasurer.

Bill H. Maynard, CGCS, of St. Albans Country Club in St. Louis, and Rafael Barajas, CGCS, at Hacienda Golf Club in La Habra Heights, Calif., were elected to two-year terms on the board of directors.

Mark F. Jordan, CGCS, natural resource leader at Westfield Group Country Club in Westfield Center, Ohio, was appointed by the board to fill the remaining year of Grass's two-year term as a director.

Darren J. Davis, the superintendent at Olde Florida Golf Club in Naples, Fla., and John R. Fulling Jr., CGCS, the superintendent at Kalamazoo (Mich.) Country Club, remain on the board with one year remaining in their two-year director terms.

The board of directors, delegates and other GCSAA members honored Sandy G. Queen, CGCS, manager of golf course operations for the city of Overland Park (Kan.), as he retired from the board after serving the last year as immediate past president. Speaking of the work accomplished by the association during the eight years he has served on the board of directors, Queen said, "The groundwork has been laid and built upon; now we're ready to take off."

Ihms listed developing broader relationships with GCSAA's industry partners and considering changes to membership classifications as key issues for the association in the coming year. Look for a complete profile of the newly elected GCSAA president and his agenda for 2014 in the March issue of GCM.