The Bluegreen Story
Founded in 1966 in Massachusetts, the company's core business was buying, improving, selling and
financing recreational land. In 1986 the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange and in
1991 it was relocated to Boca Raton, Florida.
George F. Donovan joined the Bluegreen Board of Directors in 1991 and served as its president and
chief executive officer from 1993 to 2006. In 1994, Donovan repositioned Bluegreen for long-term growth
by streamlining the company's land development business and expanding into the vacation ownership and golf industries.
Bluegreen Enters Timeshare Industry
Bluegreen developed its first timeshare resort in the Great Smoky Mountains in 1994. Other resorts soon followed.
Bluegreen focused its land development operations on master-planned communities and developed its first daily-fee golf course in 1996.
In 1997 Bluegreen acquired RDI Group, a privately held vacation ownership developer and operator with resorts in Florida and Wisconsin,
as well as management contracts with other resorts in the southeastern U.S. With this acquisition, Bluegreen became one of the largest property
managers of vacation ownership resorts in the U.S., and the Bluegreen Vacation Club® was born.
Bluegreen established one of the timeshare industry’s first national retail alliances in 2000 by entering an exclusive marketing agreement with
Bass Pro Shops®, Inc., a privately held retailer of fishing, marine, hunting, camping and sports gear. This agreement allows the company to market
Bluegreen vacation products at each Bass Pro national retail location, in Bass Pro catalogs and on the Bass Pro web site. Bluegreen also entered into
a joint venture agreement with Big Cedar, LLC to develop, market and sell the Bluegreen Wilderness Club™ at Big Cedar®.
In 2002 Bluegreen forged agreements with Boyne USA Resorts, the largest privately owned four-season resort company in North America. Bluegreen
obtained the right to market its vacation products at two of their resorts. Bluegreen also acquired land, as well as certain vacation ownership
interests, that enabled the company to develop its Mountain Run at Boyne™ resort (Not affiliated with Boyne USA).
That same year Bluegreen acquired the assets of TakeMeOnVacation®, LLC, a company that generates qualified industry leads using permission-based
marketing. The company and its software systems were integrated into Great Vacation Destinations™, Inc., Bluegreen's wholly-owned subsidiary that
focuses on permission-based lead generation and direct marketing of vacation products, under both their own name and under the TakeMeOnVacation brand.
Building Alliances
Bluegreen Corporation created several additional marketing alliances in 2006 to improve lead generation and enhance its permission-based marketing
efforts. The company joined forces with a major national hair salon chain to promote company sponsored high profile professional automobile races.
Bluegreen also formed alliances with major theme park chains to further increase permission marketing endeavors through the use of kiosks and off-premises
contact centers in theme parks.
New Leadership
Bluegreen Corporation came under new leadership in 2007. John Maloney, Jr. was appointed president and chief executive officer of Bluegreen Corporation
upon the retirement of George Donovan. With over 20 years of experience in the vacation ownership industry, Maloney has been with Bluegreen since 2001 and
most recently served as executive vice president and chief operating officer of Bluegreen Corporation, and president of Bluegreen Resorts. David Pontius, a
27-year industry veteran, was appointed president of Bluegreen Resorts in 2007. Pontius formerly served as executive vice president, hospitality services/strategic
planning, and chief customer officer of Wyndham Vacation Ownership®, Inc.