by
Shane Conroy
| Sep 24, 2020
Greg Willman, the superintendent at La Crosse Country Club in Onalaska, Wis. and 17-year GCSAA member recently accepted the Grassroots Ambassador position in Wisconsin’s third congressional district. In doing so, Greg joined 9 other ambassadors in Wisconsin who are currently serving in the GCSAA government affairs program. Earlier this year, Rick Biddle of Arcadia Bluffs, 3-year GCSAA member, became the latest Grassroots Ambassador in Michigan. With Rick accepting Michigan's first district position, the state once again filled each of its 16 ambassador positions.
Additional Grassroots Ambassadors in Michigan and Wisconsin include:
| Rick | Biddle | MI-01 | Bergman |
| Ron | Dahlin, CGCS | MI-02 | Huizenga |
| Collin | Romanick | MI-03 | Amash |
| Jerome | Blahnik | MI-04 | Moolenaar |
| Robert | Steger, CGCS | MI-05 | Kildee |
| John | Fulling, CGCS | MI-06 | Upton |
| Eric | Niemur, CGCS | MI-07 | Walberg |
| Ron | Betz | MI-08 | Slotkin |
| Ryan | Moore | MI-09 | Levin |
| Tim | Jenkins | MI-10 | Mitchell |
| John | Gray | MI-11 | Stevens |
| Jim | Priebe | MI-12 | Dingell |
| Skip | Connolly | MI-13 | Tlaib |
| John | Sabat | MI-14 | Lawrence |
| Brian | Hilfinger | MI-Senate | Peters |
| Victor | Morales-Rios | MI-Senate | Stabenow |
| Patrick | Bastron | WI-01 | Steil |
| Jens | Arneson | WI-02 | Pocan |
| Greg | Willman | WI-03 | Kind |
| Mike | Bremmer | WI-04 | Moore |
| Patrick | Reuteman | WI-05 | Sensenbrenner |
| David | Brandenburg, CGCS | WI-06 | Grothman |
| Todd | Clendenning | WI-07 | Tiffany |
| Brett | Grams | WI-08 | Gallagher |
| Jon | Canavan | WI-Senate | Baldwin |
| Harrison | Beal | WI-Senate | Johnson |
The goal of the program is to match a member of GCSAA with each member of Congress and build strong relationships between them. The program will establish a network of committed volunteers to serve as the “go-to” people for lawmakers and their staff on golf course management issues. Simply put, it is a great opportunity for GCSAA members to share their story with lawmakers.
Ambassadors will receive the tools and training needed to become effective advocates for the profession. Resources include a welcome packet to be sent upon signing up, access to online advocate training videos available on demand in Ambassador Central, and invitations to participate in advocacy webinars throughout the year.
There are currently over 400 GCSAA Grassroots Ambassadors across the country. The current open positions in the Great Lakes region include:
| IL-01 | Rush |
| IL-03 | Lipinski |
| IL-04 | Garcia |
| IL-05 | Quigley |
| IL-07 | Davis |
| IL-08 | Krishnamoorthi |
| IN-01 | Visclosky |
| IN-09 | Hollingsworth |
| KY-01 | Comer |
| KY-02 | Guthrie |
| KY-06 | Barr |
| OH-05 | Latta |
| OH-06 | Johnson |
| OH-07 | Gibbs |
| OH-13 | Ryan |
Please reach out to me if you have an interest in serving as a Grassroots Ambassador.