From Give’r to Driver: Gary Bernard’s Unlikely Journey
Gary Bernard spent his time doing what most young men did in small-town New Brunswick in the 60’s and 70’s– he’d give’r playing a lot of local sports.
As a boy from Miramichi, he was involved in baseball, soccer, volleyball, hockey, you name it.
“To be honest, I’m not sure if I did them because I loved those things or I did them because that’s what everybody did,” Bernard says. “But certainly it was a great grounding for me and I was very fortunate to have a lot of good people around supporting.”
But never did he think his love of sport would help lead him to become the current CEO of the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) of Canada.
The journey was far from linear. After graduating from James M. Hill High School, Bernard was recruited to play hockey at UNB on the Varsity Reds, known then as the Red Devils. After completing his education degree, he moved back to Miramichi to be a physical education teacher. Though there were many benefits to a cushy teaching job, Bernard knew he didn’t want to stay there forever.
“Even at that young age, I decided that I wasn’t going to be a teacher for 25 or 30 years. In fact, I had hoped that I would do six of seven things for five years or more and have very [diverse] career,” he says.
“I think it’s just my personality. I loved working with the kids and I did a lot of volunteer coaching … I was really fortunate to have wonderful students … For me, it was the rigidity of the system. I’m not much of a routine person and I like being able to have the autonomy to run my own system and do things.”
After working at Nelson Junior High and James M. Hill for eight years, Bernard decided it was time for a career shift, something many people thought was a bad move.
“People thought I was an absolute fool to be leaving the teaching profession,” he says. “They said ‘what are you going to do?” and I said ‘I don’t even have a job … I’ve tendered my resignation and I’m not coming back in September.’”
Bernard joined a Mirimichi sporting goods business called T&R Sports. It was here where he first discovered golf.
“I didn’t start playing golf until I was 25,” he says. “I was a baseball guy, and golf in those days was very much for the lawyers and doctors and dentists’ kids, that sort of thing.”
A few years later, Bernard was approached by the head professional r of the Miramichi Golf Club, Ken McBride.
“I went to work for him for about $400 a week and my mother was just shocked. She said ‘what are you doing?’ But Kenny had a good plan in place,” he says. “He said ‘you come and work for me for a couple years at the most and I’m going to get you to move somewhere else.’”
Bernard eventually moved to the Moncton Golf Club. Then in 1996, the PGA of Canada was revamping its education program and they were looking for facilitators across the country. Given his educational background, he was the perfect fit for a position. From there Bernard started moving up the ranks.
“Then I became a trainer, then I became an advisor, all the while part-time. Then I got a full-time job in education in 2004,” Bernard says. “I then became the director of education.”
In 2009, then PGA Canada CEO Steve Carroll was getting ready to leave. Bernard saw the opening as an opportunity and took the leap.
“I thought ‘well if I’m going to try to be the CEO, now is my time. Because if I don’t try, with my age, it will never come around again,’” he says.
As the current CEO of PGA Canada, Bernard leads the entire organization day-to-day, what he calls being the “conductor of the orchestra.” He is also the main liaison between PGA Canada and the other professional golf associations around the world, so there’s a lot of fun travelling. But Bernard says it’s working with his small team of 13 that he likes the most.
“My favourite part of the job is working with a very strong team and I think we are making a difference over the past seven to 10 years in the lives of our members,” he says. “Our mission is to help them live better lives and earn a better living and I think we’re working on that every day. I love the challenge of that and it’s exciting.”
Bernard, who’s now inducted in the Miramichi Sports Hall of Fame, visits New Brunswick about twice a year but is considering moving back for good once his contract with PGA Canada ends in December 2019. He’ll be 63 then.
“I don’t think I’m the type that’s going to go home and sit on the couch. I think there is a good strong case to come back to New Brunswick and see what it looks like. I don’t really know at this point,” he says. “I think what I’m trying to do most of all is to just make sure that I’m prepared financially and hopefully in my head to take on a new challenge if that arises. I’d be open to that too.”
Bernard credits his successful career to always being on the lookout and taking advantage of every opportunity that came his way. It’s a philosophy he plans to continue to embrace after he leaves the PGA.
“I think the main thing in life is to be prepared for opportunities. Most people I talk to, they don’t think about that. They don’t get their ducks in order and then opportunities come along and they’re not able to take them,” he says,
“As you can probably tell from my career, I’ve never been adverse to walking away and trying a new thing. Change has always been welcome in my life. It’s never been ‘I’m going to do this for 40 years and coast and then retire and play golf.’”