Meet the commodore

Brian Fish spent 10 years as a warrant officer in the U.S. Army flying attack helicopters, so he’s accustomed to the challenges

of command. These days, he runs a series of successful machine tool businesses. He has an open mind, an even temperament and a sensible agenda as our 90th commodore. Let’s get to know him better.

Q: Let’s start at the beginning. Where were you born and raised?

BF: I grew up in Tomahawk, a really small town in northern Wisconsin. I’d compare it to Indian River, Michigan – a nice, small country town. My dad was a local police officer and my mother worked at various jobs while I was growing up. I was big into athletics in those days -- hockey and wrestling – but I was always concerned about what I was going to do once I left town. Young people in small towns are like that. They always wonder what’s out there. I was one of them.

Q: Tell us about your military background.

BF: I had this opportunity present itself when I was in my Junior year of high school. An Army recruiter was looking for people to get into a program they called ‘High School to Flight School,’ that was created to introduce a small number of young people to their aviation program. I was fortunate at the time to have a friend whose father, Einar Ingman, was a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient in the Korean War and who wrote a letter of recommendation for me. I had letters from other people and I had done well on the test scores, but I’m sure it was his letter that got me into flight school right out of high school. I was part of a very tiny group. About one percent of all flight school candidates come out of the High School to Flight School program.

Q: Where was flight school?

BF: Well, first they sent me to Fort Rucker, Alabama, where I did six months in their warrant officer candidate program, learning how to be a military officer and leader -- that sort of thing. The group that made it through was again pretty small – I’d say about 40 percent – and we were commissioned as Army warrant officers. Then we went on to flight school, also at Fort Rucker, for another year of training. The washout rate was high there, too – about 50 percent – but I made it through. From there I was assigned to Schweinfurt, Germany – this was before the Berlin Wall came down. I flew attack helicopters missions in night-vision patrol work along the border with East Germany.

Q: What got you out of the military?

BF: I really enjoyed what I was doing. The job took me to a lot of interesting places I would never have been to – such as Korea and Haiti – coming from a small town. Many of my deployments were by myself, to places where you couldn’t take a family. When Nancy and I got married and she had our first baby, I began to concentrate on a more normal family life outside the military.

Fortunately, Nancy’s father had sold his insurance business and invested in a series of local machine shops in Warren and Sterling Heights that did aerospace, off-road and automotive gear work. He needed some help, so I took advantage of the opportunity to go work for the company. I learned the machine tool business and really liked it. It’s what I do today.

Q: The country is in a bit of a swirl right now – inflation, the economy, the workplace. There is also concern about our club – debt, membership, staff turnover, price increases. How do you plan to steer the ship?

BF: That’s a big question. The concern over debt and cost is a real issue. One major focus this year will be to balance the price of what we offer to members, especially on our menus. Take steak, for example. If we want to offer a premium dry-aged steak at a high price point, that’s okay, I guess. But the balance is we also have to have a good steak at a lower price and let people choose what they want. The same goes for drinks or anything else on the menu. I’m also looking into bringing back Pasta Night at the Club. It was popular with families years ago, and the Chef and I are talking. Again, the goal is to have a balanced menu with fairly priced options that offer value to our members. But in a broader sense, the answer to your question is that debt management, cost control and the ability to pay our bills will be my highest priority. I’m not out to build any monuments to my year as Commodore.

Q: It’s clear that the idea of fine dining didn’t go as planned in the new Spinnaker Room and more than a few members aren’t happy with the noise levels in the new Main Dining Room. Is the Board still going ahead with the remainder of Vision 2026, or are you willing to review it with a mind toward changing course and perhaps restoring some of the ‘old’ atmosphere at the Club?

BF: The Vision 2026 projects are what I would call aspirational projects. Thankfully, the vast majority of those projects were funded through donations, and we have had some generous benefactors in our membership who contributed to them. But I agree that we can’t do aspirational projects every year. We learned from the Spinnaker experience that members didn’t want or need a higher level of service or food. So, we’re altering the scope of what we do there to make it a quiet dining place with a more traditional menu. As for noise levels elsewhere in the clubhouse, we are talking with acoustical experts about what might be done – but the experts don’t all agree with each other. Dining out, especially at other clubs, I find that high noise levels tend to be the rule rather than the exception.

Q: There is a perception on the part of many members that recent Boards have not been as transparent or forthcoming as they should have about what is going on with upcoming capital projects and their cost. How do you feel about communicating with the members, even if it means telling us what we may not want to hear?

BF: Telling people what they don’t want to hear isn’t a fear on my part. It isn’t a problem for me. I do think that making members more aware of the reasoning, the thought process behind what decisions are made, is important. Whether someone agrees or not is not so much the issue as is the fact they know how we arrived at what we arrived at. It may not change the facts, but it will change the perception of why something is being done. Right now, I think perception is the problem. To that end, I’m planning to form a group of maybe a dozen members that will go out into the Club as a community – our docks, our restaurants, our play areas – and talk with members. The group will have some knowledge

of what is going on behind the scenes so they can correct misinformation and help people understand what’s being done and why.

Q: Would you consider publishing our financials and membership numbers on a regular basis to keep members informed?

BF: I’m open to just about anything. But I believe our audited financials are published on the Club web site. Of course, there’s always some information we’d rather not share with other clubs, but if a member has a question they’d like to have answered, all they have to do is give me a call and I’ll be happy to sit down and meet with them. All they have to do is ask. If I don’t have the answer myself, I’ll be happy to bring someone with me who does.

Q: We incurred additional debt during the recent harbor renovation project. What’s our payment plan and debt service strategy?

BF: That’s not a question that I would try to take on myself. Nor is it one the Board has taken on by itself. We have a finance committee that is made up of some of the best financial minds, CPAs and forensic accountants, in this part of the state. It’s what they do for a living and they’re very good at it. So, if I were to try to explain our debt strategy, I would have to defer to them to do it. The Finance Committee carefully evaluated all the options and came up with a plan that we on the Board were comfortable with. I can tell you that the amount we settled on was less than what the banks were willing to loan us. I can also say we are comfortable with the debt service levels we’re at right now. Servicing our debt and paying our bills is going to be a top priority for me this year. We do not anticipate taking on any new debt until we are sure of how the economy is going in the next few years.

Q: We’ve heard the swimming pool is in need of rehab this year. Is that true? What will it cost?

BF: The swimming pool is one of three areas that are in need of immediate capital attention. The others are the windows in the main ballroom and the roof. They’re going to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix, and we’ve been trying to set aside money in recent years for capital expenditures of this sort. We really have no choice when it comes to some repairs. They have to be done. My job will be to see that we get it done.

Q: Our Junior Sailing Program has been on the climb in recent years. How do you see its future?

BF: No question, the sailing program has been great. I’m told that participation this last year was among the largest ever, with over 200 young people signed up. This year, we’ve got a couple of new people involved with the program, one being our chairperson, Greg DeGrazia. I’ve known Greg a long time, from when we were both members of DYC, and he was involved with the sailing program there. He’s jumped in with both feet to help our program here. We’ve also added a waterfront director, Craig Hexter, to our staff, and I know he’ll make a make a real contribution managing and organizing the activities at the Marine Activities Center. I’ve also been working closely with several of our Past Commodores – Sloane

Barbour, Jim Morrow, Ilja Vreeken, Gary Gonzalez and Sean Schotthoefer – who have done so much for our sailing program over the years. I plan to continue that relationship. It’s a big program and we want to see it continue to grow.

Q: You run a series of successful machine shops. Are there any parallels here that will guide you as our commodore?

BF: Manufacturing and the private club industry are very different worlds, but I think the strongest parallel is just being mindful of the economy, balancing your books on a monthly basis and being responsible for the weekly payroll. I feel I have a responsibility to the employees – as I do to the members of this club – to steer the ship in a fiscally responsible way. Like my employees, I hope our members and staff enjoy the opportunities that are here each day.

Q: Tell us about yourself. How long have you been a boater?

BF: I grew up living on a lake, so I’ve been on the water ever since I was a little kid. We had a little aluminum rowboat with two oars, and my dad told me that when I was bored I could go out and row around the lake, which I did. I bought my first boat, a 17-footer, when I was stationed at Fort Drum, New York, and I’ve had one ever since.

Q: What do you like to do outside boating?

BF: I enjoy deer hunting every year up near Kalkaska with a group of buddies. I enjoy working around the house, doing yardwork and landscaping. I also have a motorcycle, a Harley-Davidson. I’ve had several over the years. And I like cars. My first car was a 1965 Ford Mustang that I loved so much I nearly polished the paint off from it. I’m like that today. I love cars.

Q: How did you come to join the GPYC?

BF: When I first got out of the Army, we moved to Waterford. We had a ski boat on one of the small inland lakes there -- Union Lake . One day I came over to the east side and I was just flabbergasted when I saw Lake St. Clair. Not being from the area, I had no idea there was a body of water so grand. My little ski boat was no match for the lake, so I bought a 29-foot Power Quest with two 454s in it and joined the DYC. I spent six of my nine years on the board there. My business continued to do well, to a point where I figured I could upgrade my surroundings a bit. The Grosse Pointe Yacht Club was a different caliber of club, and I wanted my wife and family to be exposed to it. I’ve never regretted the move for a minute.

Q: Tell us about your wife, First Lady Nancy.

BF: Nancy was working for Northwest Airlines at the time, and I met her when I was trying to talk my way into an upgrade to first class when I was flying from Korea back to New York. I spent so much time at the podium, we sort of got to know each other. I joke now that I had no idea what kind of upgrade I was asking for.

Q: Got a favorite movie?

BF: Cool Hand Luke with Paul Newman.

Q: Did you get the seat?

BF: I got the upgrade. I also got her to marry me, eventually.

Q: Is Nancy still working?

BF: After leaving the airlines and raising our kids, Nancy got involved part time with a Merle Norman cosmetics salon. She found that she really liked working in the wig studio that catered to cancer patients. Anybody who knows Nancy knows what an empathetic person she is – she’s very calm and compassionate about people. That job fits her to a T, working with people who are going through a very difficult time in their life and helping them. It goes way beyond wigs.

Q: Who are your heroes?

BF: A couple of generals come to mind: Patton and Eisenhower. And, of course, my dad. We had a great relationship. Having just lost him – he passed away this October – my emotions are pretty raw right now. But he really was my number-one hero. I wish I could have dinner with him again, more than anyone else.

Q: How about music?

BF: I like all kinds, especially country-western. I drive Nancy crazy in the car listening to Johnny Cash. Prince is great. So was Elvis.

Q: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

BF: It came from my dad. When I was in sports and I complained about a coach not giving me the playing time I wanted, I remember him telling me, ‘You know, you don’t need to tell people how good you are – show them. Just keep your mouth shut and go out there and show them. And when you do achieve something, act like you’ve been there before. Don’t be celebrating. Just go back to the bench and get ready for the next play.’

Q: Any final thoughts?

BF: Just that I’ve got a great group of people to work with on the Executive Committee, and I’m honored to be the Commodore of this Club, I’ll tell you that.