The job is right up the alley of Brian Bickford, who has been hired by the Maine State Golf Association as its executive director.
Bickford has a diverse background in golf and the business world, having been employed as a financial officer at two hospitals. In addition. He also has been recreation director in the Town of Cumberland, while being employed as head professional at the Val Halla Golf Club, plus working as golf coach at Greely High School.
At Val Halla he inherited a 16-player junior program and grew it to one which has had nearly 400 golfers and is generally regarded as Maine’s No. 1 program for junior golfers.
In the middle of next month, Bickford will step into the executive director’s position full time, leaving behind him many jobs, none of which are open.
“The key to replacing is to work yourself out of a job,” Bickford said. “I think I have worked myself out as a manager.”
In other words, Bickford has trained competent people to succeed him as the head pro at Val Halla, and in the Cumberland Recreation Department.
Having been the Val Halla pro and a member of the MSGA’s board of directors means that Bickford has been involved in MSGA activities for years. The MSGA office is part of the Val Halla clubhouse/pro shop and it was not uncommon over the years for recently retired MSGA executive director Nancy Storey and Bickford to be seen in each other’s office.
Bickford is cognizant of the fact that Storey, who held the position for 21 years, has done great work in growing the MSGA to a position of being highly respected not just in the State of Maine, but throughout the nation. So the executive director baton is being passed to someone who will not drop it.
“We know we have found the right replacement for Nancy,” said Curt Jordan, president of the MSGA board of directors.
Bickford is prepared and eager to make the employment transition from the two Cumberland jobs to the leading golf position in Maine.
“This is an opportunity to take the good things we have done at Val Halla and going statewide,” said Bickford, who was inducted into the Maine Golf Hall of Fame in 2016.
What Bickford is leaving behind is the creation of women’s and men’s nine-hole twilight leagues, and the enormously successful junior programs he built at Val Halla after becoming head pro there in 2006.
What he is bringing to the MSGA is his ability to make the association grow. Along with that, the MSGA board of directors is anticipating that Bickford will be able to raise funds for existing and expanded programs which will need financing.
“Following Nancy will be extremely tough, but I think we are well positioned to continue making a difference in the sport in Maine,” Bickford said.
It is a challenge that Bickford will meet head on when he takes over as executive director, so it appears that the MSGAs future is in good hands.
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