Mike Vegis
Golf Publicist, Kiawah Island Golf Resort
Great to see so many posters from the Great Lakes State! Go Green!!! 46 years old, married with a son born in 1/1999 and daughter born in 9/2000 (I'm done!). I've been playing the game since I was 4, working at our country club in Battle Creek, Michigan (Riverside CC), while in high school. Currenty carry a 8 handicap index. Still waiting to take Ran on in match play at The Ocean Course. Tried a couple of weeks ago but we got rained out...
After craming a 4-year engineering degree into 6 years at Michigan State University, I decided engineering wasn't for me. Went to Washington and got a job on Capitol Hill. Spent 5 years as Legislative Assistant to Congressman Mike Oxley (R-OH) the 5 years as Legislative Director to former Congressman Don Ritter (R-PA). Worked mostly on Energy and Commerce Committee affairs (specifically on the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance). Also was campaign strategist to two of Ritter's reelection campaigns.
Ten years is a long time on Capitol Hill and I had no desire to run for office (although the NRCC wanted me to do so in Michigan against former congressman Howard Wolpe (D-MI)). I wanted to have some fun and get paid for it so I headed to Miami and got a job as Director of Marketing and PR for Windjammer Barefoot Cruises. For the next 8 years I sailed the Caribbean on Tall Ships while schmoozing with the press. Met my wife "fishing off the company dock" as she was a Windjammer passenger. Met her on St. Lucia, got to know her on St. Kitts and St. Barts. During my time with Windjammer, I took my 2 week vacations in Monterey working on the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (the former tournament director, Lou Russo, is a family friend). I worked contestant registration, hospitality, photography, even bag transportation -- you name it, I did it...
Windjammer was fun but didn't pay very well. My wife (before we were married) worked in Charleston and loved it. I used to vacation on Kiawah back in the early 80s and loved it. We wanted to move to the Lowcountry to raise our family. So, I begged my way into the best job in the world at the most well run, well thought out resort in America.
Hope to see y'all down here on Kiawah Island soon. We've opening a $125 million, 255-room ultra-luxury oceanfront hotel and spa called The Sanctuary at Kiawah Island on June 15th so we have the place for y'all to stay. We're looking to win a Mobil 5-star rating within two years of its opening. Not an idle boast. We also own the Hermitage Hotel in Nashville which just got a AAA 5-star (a precurser to getting the Mobil 50-star) and The Jefferson Hotel in Richmond which has both a Mobil 5-star and a AAA 5-diamond, one of only 23 hotels in North America with that distinction...