Frank Vain
President
Mr. Vain provides consulting and planning services to private clubs throughout North America. Through use of specialized services including membership surveys, strategic planning, operational analysis and facility long range planning, Frank assists club in developing individualized strategies for their unique situations.
Mr. Vain joined McMahon Group in 1988 and has more than forty years of experience in the management and development of hospitality properties including country clubs, city athletic and dining clubs and residential communities. Frank is Past President of The Country Club of St. Albans, a 36-hole country club located in Missouri, and he is a former partner in Concord Sports Club, a 1,700 member family athletic club in St. Louis. Frank was elected to the Board of the National Club Association in 2011 and served as Chairman in 2019-20.
Mr. Vain is a native of Philadelphia and graduate of Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. He is a featured speaker at the annual Club Managers Association of America World Conference, National Club Association National and Regional Conferences, Major Golf Associations and a regional chapter meeting of club managers and leaders.
Frank is a regular contributor to industry leading publications like Club Management, Club Director and BoardRoom. He was named the Gary Player Club Educator of the Year for 2012 and 2015 and received the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021 by BoardRoom. He is also a co-author of McMahon’s Club Trends, a recognized industry benchmark on the trends and issues affecting private clubs.
Posts by Frank Vain
The Best Offense Wins
“The best defense is a good offense” is an old adage you’ll frequently hear during Sunday afternoon football telecasts. The original source for the quote is unknown, but it is more often attributed to George Washington than Bill Belichick. Projecting an aura of strength was one of Washington’s key principles as his ragtag Continental Army…
Read MoreUnity Within the Community
There are clubs and then there are gated community clubs. The similarities between the two are obvious, but they are also starkly different entities. While almost all country and specialty sports clubs draw members from nearby, it is essential that clubs located within gated developments draw support from all residents. First, a club set behind…
Read MoreTrend Six: Planning to be Tech-Savvy
There is an almost insatiable appetite for technology products and services in society. Facebook, Apple, Netflix and Google are some of the largest and most powerful companies in the world; yet, their offerings are so popular they have growth rates of much smaller businesses. Once unthinkable concepts like self-driving cars, will soon be called to…
Read MoreTrend Five: Going for the Green Has New Meaning at Clubs
The green movement is sometimes dismissed as a politically-motivated effort to alter our lifestyles and curtail our freedoms; but, the fact is that many of its key elements play well with club members. For example, golfers and boaters appreciate natural beauty. It is synonymous with their pursuits, and their clubs have proven to be quite…
Read MoreTrend Four: Build Community, Sustain Your Club
Clubs are commonly referred to by the dominant activity that takes place there. We call them golf clubs, tennis clubs, a dining club and on and on. While those are, of course, the things members do there, they are not ultimately the primary reason people join and pay a lot of money to belong. There…
Read MoreTrend Three: The Ladies of the Club
Recommending that your club increase membership and participation by women might be as simple as saying, “It’s the right thing to do.” These modern times demand nothing less; but, in case we need more ammunition, here are a few compelling stats for your consideration.
Read MoreTrend Two: Health & Fitness
The road to developing a fitness center at your club is often blocked by strawmen. In reaction to a suggestion that he consider adding fitness to his prestigious club, a club president once told me he opposed it because, “It would lead to people eating in the dining room with their hats on backwards.” He…
Read MoreTrend One: Time & the Re-Invention of Golf
Time. It is precious, of course, and increasingly in short supply. This should be a concern for private clubs, which need people with both the resources to enjoy membership and sufficient leisure time to derive value from the experience. The decline in available leisure time is especially pronounced among the rising 35 to 45-year-olds, where…
Read MorePools: The Gateway Amenity
The amount of money country clubs spend to rebuild or renovate their pools can be staggering these days. Multimillion dollar projects are common with recent reports of a club in the southeast hitting the $10 million mark. While the budgets might be eye-popping, most of the clubs that have completed their improvement programs will tell…
Read MoreFilling Buckets
The process of developing a Strategic Plan for your club will go through two distinct phases. The initial part of the program will be to establish the club’s vision, or direction for the future. This will be the result of studying your environment through tools like a marketplace and competitive analysis and member survey research,…
Read MoreKnow Your Members, Know Your Strategy
The amount of change in society is so significant, it is essential that leaders develop an individualized strategy for their club. The starting point for this process is often a comprehensive survey of the members. They are the owners and primary users, so it is important to have a great understanding of their needs and…
Read MoreDedicated Leadership Provides Winning Solution for New Clubhouse – The Newport Harbor Yacht Club Success Story
One thing we see up-close in our practice is how much time and energy volunteer leaders are willing to dedicate to improving their club. They are, most often, very busy people with full professional and social calendars; yet, they somehow find a way to make room in their schedule to pay back the club for…
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