August 7, 2008

Dear Fellow Members and Employees 

I am delighted and privileged to announce that Mr. Larry Brown will join Fisher Island Club in the newly created position of Chief Executive Officer.  Larry will officially start his responsibilities on Monday, August 11^th, 2008.

 
Larry has had a distinguished career in hospitality beginning in 1975.  Larry has served as General Manager at some of North America's finest hotels. Larry comes to us from the Silverton Lodge and Casino in Las Vegas where he was the Vice President of Hotel Operations and was involved with the development of their new 343 room luxury hotel tower, 80,000 square foot state-of-the art meeting facility and new pool and spa complex.  Prior to joining Silverton, Larry was the General Manager of the newly opened Renaissance Hotel on Paradise Road in Las Vegas which received a Four-Diamond rating after only being open for four months.  The hotel's Envy Steakhouse has also received numerous awards including the Wine Spectator Award, "Best New Restaurant" and "Best Steakhouse Off the Strip. "

Prior to opening the Renaissance Hotel, Larry was the Vice President and Hotel Manager for the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville, Tennessee for more than 10 years. The Gaylord Entertainment flagship property is comprised of 2,881 guest rooms and 600,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space and has won numerous industry awards including the prestigious "Meeting and Conventions Magazine Gold Key Elite Award."

Larry also spent six years with Wyndham Hotel Corporation where he was the Regional Food and Beverage Director and then advanced to be the General Manger of the historic Warwick Hotel in Houston, Texas.  Prior to Wyndham, Larry held several management positions with Sheraton, Marriott, Doubletree, and the Five-Diamond Adolphus Hotel in Dallas, Texas.

"I am very excited to accept this opportunity to join and serve Fisher Island Club," stated Larry.  "I am impressed with the reputation and prestige of this great community and I look forward to working with the staff to lead Fisher Island into the future. Larry believes that the Team Members are the heart and soul of any operation.  He believes you can achieve almost any goal if you communicate with your Team Members, encourage them, make them part of the program and treat them with respect. He believes that you are successful if you learn to mentor those around you.

The Search Committee was impressed with Larry's management style defined by his proven leadership skills, staff development and Member relations.  Larry has demonstrated sound financial management abilities, is a strong proponent of long term strategic planning and brings a successful track record of managing major capital projects.

Originally from New Hampshire, Larry and his wife, Debbie, are anxiously looking forward to relocating from Las Vegas to Miami this summer.  Larry and Debbie have three sons ages 34, 28 and 27.  They both enjoy boating, skiing and travel.

Larry has served on several hotel and lodging boards including Houston, Nashville and Las Vegas. He was also on the Mayor's Development Committee for the revitalization of downtown Nashville, as well as serving on the Nashville Tourism Committee.

How We Arrived at Today

The process of hiring Larry initiated in March with the formation of the Search Committee made up of Michael Ashkin, Tony Fano, Karen Frana, Bob Hyman, Jeff Spragens, Stan Smith and Dan Wielhouwer.  This Committee's goal was twofold; determine the management solution that would best lead to noticeable and measurable improvement in the operational performance of Fisher Island and attract and hire an outstanding Executive qualified to lead the transition.

The executive search firm, Kopplin & Kuebler, Inc. was retained.  Its professional and streamlined facilitation was invaluable to the process.  They identified a breadth of highly impressive candidates.  From a broad list, seven candidates were selected to visit the island and gain an understanding of the operation.  From those interviews, five were selected to re-visit the Island and undergo a series of in-depth interviews with the entire Search Committee, and a clear leader was unanimously identified.  Larry was brought back to the island for additional meetings with Mark James, President of FICA and Scott Barter, Club CFO.  Shortly afterward, we made an offer to Larry and he accepted.

The purpose of this communication is to welcome Larry.  At the same time, I would also like to thank the entire Membership and Club Personnel for their patience over the past couple of years.  It has been a time of transition, education and examination.  We are over two years from our takeover of the Club and we are entering a smarter, more knowledgeable and experienced phase in Club Operations.  We have created the Executive position of Chief Executive Officer to reflect the Senior Management role the position will execute and are happy to have found a strong leader to fill it.  With a seasoned focus on delivery of service and quality, we know Larry will begin the process of change almost immediately.

In closing, I welcome each of you to join together with Larry as we begin to write this new chapter in the very special story that is Fisher Island.

Sincerely,

Tony Fano

President of the Board

An event will be planned to officially welcome Larry and Debbie to Fisher Island in a few weeks.  Stay tuned for details!