STEVENS POINT, Wisconsin — It’s the kind of decision that can cement a legacy, for better or worse, and for Pete McPartland, it came without a safety net or any time for second-guessing.
When McPartland took over as CEO of Sentry Insurance in 2012, he was immediately staring at a major decision that would ultimately define the future of the company: What to do with SentryWorld Golf Course?
Wisconsin’s first destination golf venue, which opened in 1982, was foundering after not getting the attention it needed and was no longer living up to the vision then-CEO John Joanis had for the course when he commissioned Robert Trent Jones Jr. to do the original design.
McPartland figured he had three options: sell the course and get out of the golf business; let it continue on the path it was on with perhaps some modest enhancements; or make an investment in the course with the hopes it would pump life back into a dying dream.
“The management team that had been running Sentry had not invested in the golf course and I believe, not to speak for them, but they felt it was an ancillary and possibly even distracting part of our business,” McPartland said Wednesday while sitting in a hospitality suite overlooking the 18th green.
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It was a monumental decision for anyone, let alone for someone still feeling his way as the “new guy” on campus.
He solicited feedback, which was mixed, but ultimately the decision was his alone.
“It had been a subject that was sensitive to talk about,” he said.
After much deliberation and handwringing, McPartland decided. Sentry would go “all-in” on the golf course and what he calls the hospitality business, and it changed not only the fortunes of SentryWorld but also the insurance company.
“I didn’t feel pressure,” he said. “I absolutely knew it was the right thing. But I also knew the conscious willingness to let the golf course and, for that matter, restaurant that we have atrophied was a conscious decision that I was flying in the face of prior management. There were a lot of people that felt for financial discipline reasons, spending money on recreation, in essence, inherently represented unwise judgment. I knew there were a lot of people that think that.
“But I knew that it was certainly affordable given the size and success of the company and this would attract more…
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