Author Archives: Quinn Pochekailo

April 2023 Insider | DEI Updates

Our team members LaJuana WarrenJennifer Gafford, and Stephanie Tschohl recently attended the Forum on Workplace Inclusion Conference in Minneapolis, which marked its 35th year. The conference offered a diverse range of workshops, including sessions on Racial Justice at Work, Building Networks of Allyship, and Operationalizing a Workplace Culture of Belonging. We are thrilled to announce that our team was able to attend a wide variety of these workshops, and we are excited to share recordings of many of these sessions over the next few months via Zoom!

In May, we will celebrate AAPI-Asian American Pacific Islander Month with a special guest speaker, Lisa Ong. Lisa was a hit at last year’s event, and we are sure this year will be no exception. We will also be celebrating Jewish Heritage Month with a visit to the Holocaust Museum and lunch, and we encourage everyone to stay tuned for the dates.

If there are any topics you would like us to discuss or cover, please reach out to LaJuana Warren or the co-chairs with your suggestions and ideas.

 

25th Anniversary of The Legend at Giants Ridge

Celebrating One of Our Most Influential Partnerships

The last five years have seen an unprecedented amount of developments on the world stage, in the United States, and in our own organization. Even during such a tumultuous time, we saw the development of one of our most influential partnerships.

On Tuesday, June 28, 2022, we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of The Legend Golf Course at Giants Ridge. This landmark event welcomed stakeholders, media members, Guest Services leadership, and more from all over the country to honor one of America’s most renowned golf destinations.

Another ‘Giant’ Success Story

From local legislators to company execs and CEOs, all those in attendance were grateful for the course’s success and appreciative of the opportunity to enjoy The Legend.

“It was a great event. We got out to play and spend time with a lot of good people, including many of the major stakeholders and partners. It was also timely, as we are the beneficiary of a recently renewed contract there for another at least five years with the opportunity to extend,” says Nico Foris, CEO.

 

 

“It went really well. We’ve actually only seen about a fraction of the media that will result from the event. The Forbes article has been released, there’s been buzz throughout the state, and everyone I talked to, from state legislators to locals and even the course architect himself, Jeff Brauer, was grateful for it going so well,” says Steve Rahkola, Director of Sales & Marketing at Giants Ridge.

 

See the full list of excellent articles and resulting media coverage.

As the summer and fall seasons come to a close, the Giants Ridge team is looking forward to their Rock the Ridge concert and Mountain Bike Race before they start switching gears to the winter season. We look forward to building on the success of the 25th Anniversary Event!

Team Members and Executive Leadership Celebrate Juneteenth at Columbia Island Marina

June 19th (Juneteenth), 1865, two and a half years after the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, is the day in US history when Northern troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to ensure all enslaved people were freed. It is also a date that has often been drastically overlooked throughout our country’s history.

This year, Guest Services commemorated the national holiday by holding a luncheon at our very own Columbia Island Marina outside of Washington, DC. We also used this date as a platform to launch our new African American Employee Resource Group.

“It was a momentous occasion for Guest Services as we continue to live up to our 2022 pledge of expanding our DEI programs. We remain committed to having these important conversations, providing the necessary resources our team members need to thrive, and recognizing significant cultural events,” said Lajuana Warren, Director of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Event attendees included Nico Foris, Chief Executive Officer; Dan Stoltzfus, Chief Financial Officer; Rick Wayland, Vice President of Operations; Jeff Ritter, Senior Director of Corporate Compliance; Jennifer Gafford, Director of Human Resources; Bill Briggs, Director of Safety & Security; as well as Guest Services team members from all over the area.

Thank you to all those who were involved in putting together the event and to those who attended. We look forward to our next celebration!