2021 GAP Executive Committee

Mestre elected President; New board welcomed

Oscar L. Mestre of Overbrook Golf Club has been elected to serve a one-year term as President of GAP for its fiscal year beginning Dec. 1, 2020. He is the 34^th Association President and first born in Cuba. Mestre succeeds T. Quinn Spitzer of Makefield Highlands Golf Club, who completed his third one-year term as President, the limit for service in that office under the Association’s bylaws.

Mestre, 60, of Berwyn, Pa., served as the organization’s Vice President from 2018-20. He has been a board member since 2014. Mestre’s been a GAP member since the age of 14 when his family joined Overbrook Golf Club, moving to the area from Caracas, Venezuela. He competed in three USGA championships and is a winner of numerous GAP titles, including most recently, the 2019 Senior Player of the Year. Professionally, Mestre is a Senior Partner at CREATIVE Financial Group in Newtown Square, Pa.

The election of Officers and the 17-member Executive Committee occurred on Oct. 28, 2020 during the Association’s Annual Meeting via a Zoom conference call.

Also elected to one-year terms as Officers are Kenneth A. Phillips, Lancaster Country Club, Vice President; Richard A. Ogorek, Fieldstone Golf Club, Treasurer; and, Michael B. McLelland, Chester Valley Golf Club, Secretary. Jeffrey S. Henderson of Gulph Mills Golf Club is nominated for a one-year term in his current role as General Counsel. Phillips, who served as Secretary in the just concluded fiscal year, assumes the role as Vice President as he enters his fifth year on the Executive Committee. McLelland, who in his ninth year on the Executive Committee, joins the Officers as Secretary.

Others on the GAP Executive Committee who were elected to serve an additional one-year terms each are Daniel A. Dreisbach, Wilmington Country Club; Edward P. Hutchinson, Tavistock Country Club; Michael H. Lewers, Aronimink Golf Club; P. Edward Lovelidge, Hidden Creek Golf Club; Tracey S. MacGown, Saucon Valley Country Club; Glenn D. Meyer, Philmont Country Club; Jules J. Quinones, Blue Bell Country Club; and Joseph F. Virdone, Philadelphia Country Club. Tina S. Gregor of Huntingdon Valley Country Club is an ex-officio member of the Executive Committee as a result of her role as Chairwoman of the J. Wood Platt Caddie Scholarship Trust. There are four new representatives elected to one-year terms on the Executive Committee: Jeffrey B. Armbrister, Philadelphia Cricket Club; David Kornblatt, Merion Golf Club; Larry McClure, Frosty Valley; and MaryAnn Watson, Huntingdon Valley Country Club.

• Armbrister, 47, of Philadelphia, Pa., is a Managing Director and the Global Head of Direct Equity Investments at Hamilton Lane, where he is responsible for direction and oversight of the firm’s Co-Investment platform. He has been a member of Philadelphia Cricket Club since 1999 and currently serves as Chair of the Grounds Committee, as a member of the Golf Committee and on the club’s Board of Governors. Additionally, Armbrister was Chair of the 2019 Big Ten Golf Championship. He is also a board member of The First Tee of Greater Philadelphia.
• Kornblatt, 60, of Bryn Mawr, Pa., is a finance executive with 30 years of experience in operations, corporate management and controls, M&A, financial community communications, and restructuring. He most recently was the Senior Vice President and CFO at Triumph Group in Berwyn, Pa. Triumph designs, engineers, manufactures, repairs and overhauls a broad portfolio of aerostructures, aircraft components, accessories, subassemblies and systems. He is currently the Treasurer and a Board Member at Merion, where he has been since 2010.
• McClure, 64, of Danville, Pa., is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in the nuclear power industry. He has volunteered for the Anthracite Golf Association since 1994 and was an instrumental figure in the AGA’s merger with GAP that started in 2017 and became official in 2018. He’s been a Frosty Valley member since 2001.
• Watson’s professional career is focused on higher educational administration and counseling. She currently works at Safe Harbor as a group facilitator for grieving families. She is the current President of the Women’s Board of Abington Jefferson Health. Watson, 63, of Ambler, Pa., currently serves on the Huntingdon Valley House Committee and has served in the past as its Women’s Golf Chair. She started playing the sport at age 50.

Retiring from the Executive Committee as of GAP’s Nov. 30, 2020 fiscal year-end are Spitzer (2013-20); Noreen M. Mohler (2014-20), Northampton Country Club; C. Greg Guyer, Philadelphia Cricket Club (2015-20); and Barry J. Westington (2017-20), Country Club of Scranton. Mohler was the Association’s first female Executive Committee member.

The 2020 Nominating Committee was chaired by Robert M. Morey (GAP President, 2012-15), Merion Golf Club. Its other members were Daniel B. Burton (GAP President, 2006-08), Lancaster Country Club and John R. Choyka (GAP Executive Committee, 2012-18), Indian Valley Country Club.

GAP
Celebrating Amateur Golf since 1897, GAP, also known as the Golf Association of Philadelphia, is the oldest regional or state golf association in the United States. It serves as the principal ruling body of amateur golf in its region. The Association’s 288 Member Clubs and 75,000 individual members are spread across the Eastern half of Pennsylvania and parts of New Jersey and Delaware. The GAP’s mission is to promote, preserve and protect the game of golf.