Via PGA of America

NEW YORK –  Paul Levy, of Indian Wells, California, was elected the 40th President of the PGA of America today at the Association’s 100th Annual Meeting. Levy is President of Club Operations and Development for Sunrise Company, and also is the CEO and General Manager at Toscana Country Club. Prior to being elected PGA President, Levy served as PGA Vice President and PGA Secretary.

Now a member of the Southern California PGA Section, he is the fourth person from the Section to ascend to PGA President, following Joe Novak (1949-1951), Pat Reilly (1989-1990) and Tom Addis III (1995-1996). Levy previously was president of the Southern Texas PGA Section from 1998-2000, and earned the 2000 Southern Texas PGA Golf Professional of the Year Award. He is a three-time Southern Texas Section PGA Junior Golf Leader recipient; the 1999 Section Bill Strausbaugh Award winner; and the 1997 Section Merchandiser of the Year for Public Facilities.

Succeeding Levy as Vice President is Suzy Whaley of Cromwell, Connecticut, who served the past two years as Secretary. Whaley is the first woman ever to be elected as an Officer of the Association.

Jim Richerson, of Kohler, Wisconsin, was elected to succeed Whaley as PGA Secretary. A former member of the PGA Board of Directors, Richerson is General Manager & Group Director of Golf at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run. Also, Derek Sprague, of Jersey City, New Jersey, who served as the 39th PGA President, assumes the role of PGA Honorary President. He succeeds Allen Wronowski, who completed his second two-year term.

In addition, six new members of the PGA Board of Directors and one Independent Director were sworn in: Noel Gebauer, of Schenectady, New York; Tom Henderson, of Greenwich, Connecticut; John Lindert, of Lansing, Michigan; Kelly Williams, of Lexington, Kentucky; Patrick Richardson, of Savannah, Georgia; Don Rea, Jr. of Mesa, Arizona; and Independent Director Christopher Liedel, President of Smithsonian Enterprises in Washington, D.C.

PGA President Paul Levy earned PGA membership in 1986, and has served in a leadership capacity at both the Section and National levels for nearly 25 years. From 2007-2012, Levy was elected as an Independent Director on the Southern California PGA Board of Directors. From 1999-2004, he served as General Manager and PGA Director of Golf at Royal Oaks Country Club in Houston, and was Senior Vice President of Club Operations for Sunrise Company, the developer of Royal Oaks Country Club. In 2004, Levy moved to Southern California to oversee the development of Toscana. Four years later, he became president of Club Operations and Development for Sunrise. In 1992, he founded PKL Golf Group Company, a golf management and development company, and served as its president and CEO. Levy still operates that entity today. Levy is a 1983 graduate of LSU, where he was a member of the golf team.

For a complete bio of Paul Levy, please click here.

PGA Vice President Suzy Whaley is the PGA Director of Instruction at Suzy Whaley Golf in Cromwell. Having served as PGA Secretary from 2014-2016, Whaley was also a member of the PGA Board of Directors from 2011-13. She has also served on the Connecticut PGA Section Board of Directors and as Section Vice President at Large. A dual PGA and LPGA Teaching & Club Professional Member, Whaley was also an LPGA Tour member in 1990 and 1993. She famously competed in the 2003 Greater Hartford Open, the first woman since Babe Zaharias in 1945 to qualify for a PGA Tour event.

For a complete bio on Suzy Whaley, please click here.

PGA Secretary Jim Richerson is responsible for managing all aspects of the day-to-day golf businesses for Kohler Co. While on the PGA Board of Directors, Richerson served on the PGA Budget Committee, Investment Committee and as Chair of the Golf Properties Committee. The 2013 and 2016 Wisconsin PGA Section Golf Professional of the Year, Richerson also previously won the Section’s Horton Smith and Bill Strausbaugh Awards. His career has taken him to a variety of facilities—daily-fee, semiprivate, private, and full-service resorts—and given him an opportunity to work alongside PGA Professionals in nine PGA Sections.

The PGA Board of Directors is composed of the Association’s President, Vice President, Secretary, Honorary President and 17 Directors. The Directors include representatives from each of the PGA’s 14 districts, two Independent Directors and a member of the PGA Tour. New District Directors are elected by their representative PGA Sections.