DECEMBER 2009

moving on
Shenandoah’s esteemed GM retires
BY JOYCE WISWELL
After navigating Shenandoah
Country Club through some
rough financial waters, General
Manager Kamel Kassem is looking
forward to simply gazing at them from
his home on the Red Sea in Egypt.
Kassem, who is also Shenandoah’s
chief operating officer, is retiring
at the end of this month to his home
in Sharm el-Sheikh, a resort destination
in his native Egypt. He plans to
divide his time between the U.S. and
Egypt with his new consulting company,
KCG Management.
“I will take it a little bit easier,
that’s all,” said the former Mr. Egypt,
who has made a career specialty of
turning around troubled properties.
Lee Sharkis, Shenandoah’s top
chef, has been named interim general
manager and is in the running for
the job on a permanent basis. Before
joining Shenandoah three years ago,
he spent more than 15 years with the
Andiamo restaurant group.
“They are big shoes to fill – Kamel
has done a great job for us,” Sharkis
said.
Kassem is credited with helping
Shenandoah get expenses under
control and improving the club’s
food and service after an uneven first
year of operation. When he joined
Shenandoah in early 2006 the club
has already had two general managers
in its first 13 months. His biggest
challenge was “cutting the fat
– which we had a lot of,” Kassem
said.
“We were overstaffed, no doubt,”
he recalled.
Shenandoah’s first year of operation
saw a $1.5 million operations
loss; after Kassem’s first year a modest
$7,000 to $8,000 profit was achieved.
“I have had the best time here,” he
said. “I’ve had a great friendship with
a lot of Chaldean members and the
Chaldean community is a great community.”
This past year has been dominated
by uncertainty as the club
struggled to meet its deep financial
obligations with about $24 million
in debt. Though formal papers had
Kamel Kassem, seen shortly after joining Shenandoah in 2006.
not been signed by press time, it’s believed
that Shenandoah has struck a
favorable deal with its chief creditor
and is back on financial track.
“It is looking very good. Instead
of the tsunami when I arrived, now
it is sailing waters,” said Kassem.
“Whoever takes over needs to keep
it going; there will still be challenges
with the economy so we need to be
more creative.”
Things were looking so bleak that
the club had virtually no bookings for
dates beyond April 2010 due to the
bad publicity and fears that Shenandoah
would be lost to foreclosure.
“Non-Chaldean parties [booking
the ballroom] asked me to sign the
contract with them to guarantee that
we will be open in 2010,” Kassem
said. “I did it, because I know for a
fact that the club will be around – for
2010 and for another 100 years.”
Intensive marketing and advertising
efforts have paid off, Kassem said,
and now every Friday, Saturday and
Sunday is booked from April through
October 2010.
“It’s been a rough road, there is no
doubt about it,” Kassem said. “2008
was our best year, but 2009 was very
shaky and rocky. The board did a
great job keeping cool and composed
and navigating in water infested in
sharks.”
Former board president Mike
Sarafa said he hates to see Kassem
go.
“He stuck with us in very tough
times, a very, very high-pressure situation,
with tremendous dignity and
integrity,” Sarafa said. ““He’s leaving
the new management with a clean
slate.”
Neb Mekani, who is about to
serve his second term as president, is
also a fan.
“Mr. Kassem has been absolutely
amazing in accomplishing and
achieving the goals we had,” Mekani
said. “He walked a fine line between
member demands and operating expenses.
He will be missed, but he has
made it clear that he will always be
there to help us in any capacity we
need.”
Sharkis plans to offer carry-out
and delivery and a new menu for the
Members Dining Room, which will
be closed for the month of January.
“We will make it more modern with
a Middle Eastern flair,” he said.
Kassem said he hopes the community
will rally around Shenandoah.
“The club is in a very good position;
the club is viable. This is one of the
10 best clubs in the country in the
way of architecture and design and
how lavish it is,” he said. “The Chaldean
community should be very, very
proud of what they have, and they
should stick together.”
34 CHALDEAN NEWS DECEMBER 2009
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