Top Team Members/Meet the People Who Make the Resort Industry Great!

As the Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) and Compliance Analyst for , Rebecca Wilson describes her role as a behind-the-scenes support person, responsible for implementing and maintaining internal computerized systems that enable Bluegreen associates to transition from recruiting and hiring, while providing long-term support throughout their career.

Her job is to ensure that all of the company’s many computerized HR-related systems are properly implemented and utilized. With 5,500 associates at more than 200 locations in 35 states throughout the U.S., keeping everyone “singing from the same songbook” is not an easy task. When a new resort or sales office opens, Rebecca and her team are directly involved in obtaining all pertinent information about the site and configuring it in the appropriate internal HR systems. The complexity of the timeshare business and increasing number of employment-related regulatory requirements make her knowledge of HRIS systems invaluable and critical to keeping up with the constant changes.

Rebecca has been with Bluegreen over 17 years, the majority of her professional career. Her work ethic, energy and positive attitude earned her a series of promotions from payroll practitioner to payroll compliance to her current position, which she has held for four years. Much of her work requires an intricate knowledge of systems as well as complex legal, compliance and payroll issues in the 35 states where Bluegreen has offices. Her unique analytical skills and vast institutional company knowledge enables her to share efficiency and efficacy tips to associates of all experience levels.

Born and raised in Florida, Rebecca says that the sun and sand are part of her DNA. She earned a BA from Florida Atlantic University with a specialty in finance and accounting. Married for 22 years, she and Scott have two teenaged boys. The entire family is into water sports and biking.

For the past seven years, Rebecca has been working for Bluegreen as a telecommuter from an office in Jacksonville, Florida – far from the company’s corporate offices in Boca Raton. This is because she and Scott wanted to provide care and support for her husband’s elderly parents, living in Jacksonville. Bluegreen’s leaders recognized her great value to the company and allowed her to work for them remotely from Jacksonville.

Says Rebecca, “Even though my involvement has shifted more to a behind-the-scenes role, I am actually supporting our company more because the systems I help implement and maintain provide access to all of our associates 24/7. Ensuring that our associates across the country can access this important data on demand is key in today’s digital age. I truly love my work and understand that what I do touches every associate who works for us. It makes me feel good to know I am supporting them even though they may never know my name or who I am. Often, they may reach out to me via an email support system, or call when they have a special concern. In so many ways, I function as a liaison with our entire staff of HR professionals in payroll, benefits, talent acquisition, and learning and development. Bluegreen has given me many opportunities to grow as the company has grown and expand my role over the years. It has been an amazing and rewarding journey,” she concludes.

Chris Cathcart is the Production Manager for The Welk Resort Theater, a 2,300-seat theater located on the grounds of the 159-unit Welk Resorts Branson, in Branson, Missouri. The theater hosts celebrity performers on a year-round basis and also welcomes business, educational and religious events. A veteran entertainer himself and son of one of the famed The Lennon Sisters from the Lawrence Welk TV show, Chris grew up surrounded by entertainers. In his role as Production Manager for the Branson Theater, he has always been one of those very special “can-do” people who miraculously manage everything that is thrown his way … and then some.

Chris moved to Branson in 1994, six months prior to the opening of the resort to prepare for the theater’s opening. (It was intended to be a short-term position.) An accomplished actor/singer himself, he served in the theater’s cast for ten years and became stage manager before stepping into the role of production manager, producing shows that had 6-8 week runs, along with hosting concert series. Some of these concerts featured BB King, the Gatlin Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd and his own celebrated family members.

When the economy took a downturn and tourism to the area and the theater slowed to a cautious crawl, the dilemma was what to do with the theater and its staff. Financial necessity required that everything be scaled back and many other staff members were let go. As the dust began to settle from the economy, Chris adapted himself to other areas to better serve his employer and the resort.

Although he had decades of experience in theater, he immersed himself into an entirely new realm of operations, spearheading marketing efforts for the resort. He became an expert at social media, responding to online comments and interacting with owners and guests and performing in new corporate roles as needs arose. As the economy picked up, Chris worked with resort management in encouraging celebrities like Tony Orlando, Jerry Springer and others to make their Branson theater their home and added live theater productions, competing with about 35 Branson venues running multiple live entertainment performances.

They solicited, booked, and often directed a plethora of “events” including cheerleading, body-building and dance competitions, religious gatherings, runway shows, high-school graduations, and a series of festivals, transforming the entire theater with his full-time staff of ten employees to meet the changing needs of the performers, while at the same time filling the theater with paying groups, helping to defray the costs of its operation. They brought in the supremely popular production of Million Dollar Quartet to help bring revenue back to earlier levels. Today, Chris is an integral part of every element of the show. Overseeing the lights and sound system, and is there for each rehearsal and performance to ensure everything is right. The show opened in June of 2015 and is scheduled to have over 200 performances in 2016.

By presenting a wide range of entertainment venues, Chris Cathcart brought additional thrills and vacation memories to the Welk Resort guests, who tracked each performance with their off-the-scale positive reviews, rating it with the highest scores in the nearly 22-year history of the resort theater.

Exactly like the experience of resort guests, Chris believes that the people sitting behind the curtains waiting for the show to start are not coming back tomorrow night so the staff has only one opportunity to get it right by providing them with best possible performance. He lives this philosophy every day with every single action. Because it was so successful with his theater staff, the same philosophy has been adopted throughout the entire resort property.

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• Meet the People Who Make the Resort Industry Great!
• Top Team Members Who Make the Resort Industry Great!