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40th Anniversary Humble Beginnings ithin the great story of how the vacation ownership industry grew are numerous personal stories of success for many individuals. Here are the ways that some ARDA leaders found timeshare. • Geoff Ballotti, president and chief executive officer of Group RCI, began in 1983 with the real estate development group at Bank of New England and then went on to work at then-Sheraton, now Starwood. • Ann Barker, RRP, president of Barker & Associates, entered the industry by accident in the 1990s, after her friend John Sweeney, RRP, enlisted her consulting services in creating Timeshare University 101. • Jim Beckham, RRP, became a part-time salesman for Fairfield Communities in 1980 while waiting for an airline job after leaving the U.S. Air Force. Beckham made so much money his first year he decided to just stay in timeshare. • Bert Blicher, RRP, president of Blue Water Resort, met Carl Burlingame, founder of Vacation Ownership World, in the lobby of a hotel in 1978, where he was scheduled to give a presentation on finance. • Hank Cairo, president of Resort Capital Advisors, first began in public accounting and was asked by Shelly Ginsburg, RRP, to join his company and serve onsite at Vistana as a non-independent accountant. Cairo sold his accounting firm when Ginsburg sold Vistana and became the by Anna Chongpinitchai, ARP W • • • • • • “timeshare expert” among the accountants. Rip Gellein, RRP, chairman emeritus of Starwood Vacation Ownership, was a banker in Chicago, whose bank lent money to Shelly Ginsburg, RRP, and Perry Snyderman, RRP, to convert a project to timeshare in 1979. He subsequently left his bank position to join their company. Dave Gilbert, EVP resort sales and marketing with Interval International (II), entered the industry 22 years ago after leaving the airline industry following deregulation. Gilbert discovered II through a friend’s recommendation. Dale Goodman, RRP, president of GoodManagement, began at a hospitality company with a hotel that had a golf course on threequarters of its property. Fairfield Communities formed a joint venture to build a timeshare on the hotel’s golf course property, and Goodman became involved in the operation of this new development. Gordon Gurnik, RRP, president, North America with Group RCI, began as a phone agent with RCI 21 years ago and has remained with the company for his entire career. Franz Hanning, president and CEO of Wyndham Vacation Ownership, started in the industry in 1980 as a sales representative. Mitch Imanaka, managing principal of Imanaka Kudo & Fujimoto, started in 1979 in • • • • • Hawaii, when a hotel H developer approached d him h looking for a way to use timeshare as an exit strategy. Ken Kies, managing director of the Federal Policy Group, served on the House Committee on Ways and Means (1982-1987) and knew Tom Franks, then-president of ARDA. ARDA became a client of Kies in relation to tax issues. Jared Meyers, president and CEO of Celebrity Resorts, worked at the Miami Beach resort his family owned during his high school years, filling open positions at the front desk and performing other tasks as needed. Craig Nash, chairman, president, and CEO of Interval Leisure Group, entered the industry in 1978 by accident, while looking for a job out of law school. Nash answered an ad and became a lawyer for Tom Davis, who was part-owner and cofounder of Interval International. Steve Peterson, partner at Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll LLP, began in the industry in 1977. He worked at a law firm with Orrin Hatch until Hatch was elected to the U.S. Senate; then, his firm merged with the one for which Harry McCoy, RRP, worked—Ballard Spahr. Jerry Sikes, RRP, president of Pro Management, originally had a small hotel in Sarasota, Florida, which presented him with the continued on page 59 Things to Know Do you have a story to contribute? Future columns will cover topics like the role of resort management companies and HOAs, vacation clubs and points systems, and generations of families involved in timeshare—please e-mail your comments/ideas/stories to Anna at achong@arda.org. Also, visit the Web site, www.arda.org/anniversary, to request copies of the 40th Anniversary DVD or magazine supplement ($5/each; limit five copies of each). You also may make your predictions for 2019 via the site…what do you think our industry will look like in 10 years? Add your ideas to the “time capsule” of predictions that will be opened ten years from now! Developments • October 2009

October 2009 Developments

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