Personalities

Hospitality With Harrison

Bryan Harrison rises from server to country club GM

Bryan Harrison with New Albany Country Club Director of Golf Paul Hollenbaugh.

In the hospitality industry, Bryan Harrison is considered a unicorn – a rare employee who stays at one business for years on end.

“The hospitality business is generally very transient; you go from space to space, place to place,” Harrison says. “But I am also of the mindset that, just like our members, when you find a place that you truly believe is home, there is room for growth. There’s always nuance being added to what you do and to the organization.”

Harrison has been working at the New Albany Country Club since 1998. In September 2021, with more than 20 years of experience at the club, he was named general manager.

The hospitality industry has always been a part of Harrison’s life. His father is a classically trained chef who has run several food management companies. Growing up, Harrison took on whatever role his dad needed.

“Our family history is built in hospitality,” he says. “I assisted my father

Harrison with Cory Luke, head golf professional at New Albany Country Club.

when needed, which pretty much meant whenever someone didn’t make it for their shift, I was immediately promoted to whatever was necessary.”

Despite that, Harrison initially imagined himself taking a different path. He had a strong interest in sports, and as he moved toward college, took an interest in sports administration.

He moved from his hometown of Toledo to Columbus to study sports administration at The Ohio State University. At OSU, he worked as a student athletic trainer for the football, men’s basketball and men’s tennis teams. It was during this time that he began working as a server at Morton’s The Steakhouse. There, he discovered a new passion.

“There are some who quote-unquote ‘fall into the business,’ and then there are some who get bit by the bug,” Harrison says. “I got bit by the bug, and it wasn’t something in which I simply excelled, it was something that I loved. I like to think that the love happened first, and based on having the family history

Harrison at the New Albany Country Club’s bath & tennis facility.

and being a little bit aware of how restaurants operate, how hospitality works, that it became a natural connection, natural movement for me.”

After working at Morton’s for six years, Harrison transitioned to the New Albany Country Club. Over his years with the club, he’s worn many hats. He started as a service manager and took on the additional roles of maitre d’ and club sommelier. In 2008 he became the clubhouse director and in 2018 became assistant general manager before assuming his current role as general manager.

He began the transition to general manager in September, but Harrison took over full day-to-day responsibilities in June. Tony Shill, the previous general manager, moved to a consulting role at that point and will continue to provide support through 2022. Shill started with the club in 2009.

As general manager, Harrison now oversees the operations of the food and beverage department, golf, fitness and aquatics, tennis, facility maintenance, turf care, and club grounds. With such a deep background, he’s the perfect fit for the broad responsibilities of the general manager job.

“Sometimes the only way to learn is to learn by doing, and I’ve had that opportunity,” he says. “I’m support to multiple departments, and the only way to be support to each of those departments is to have some level of a working knowledge to each. This is a military principle that you can’t be a great general if you weren’t a good soldier. And you don’t stop being a good soldier just because you become a general.”

Outside of work, Harrison is kept busy by his family. He recently married his wife, Renée, and they have a blended family with four children: Khalil, Blake, Britney and Kayden.

He’s also maintained his passion for sports through the years. And, while he says he’s known among friends and family for being a lover of all sports, nothing compares to OSU football.

“I am still one that can remember the first time that I ran out of the (Ohio Stadium) tunnel as an 18-year-old in September of 1992 as part of the athletic department,” Harrison says.

Harrison’s passion for hospitality has not diminished either.

“There’s something very, very special about being able to walk onto a property and feel that you are at home and you take a deep breath, a sigh of relief when you come on these grounds,” he says. “It’s an extension of a member’s living room, where they say, ‘I’m home.’ You’re able to glean so much from people of influence just by listening, just by having conversation. It’s altogether rewarding for me.”

Lindsey Capritta is a contributing writer at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at feedback@ cityscenemediagroup.com.