Q&A: Jeanne Poorman Takes the Reigns of the Michigan Shores Club

As the newly elected, first female president of the Michigan Shores Club, Jeanne Poorman is blazing a new direction for North Shore clubs. In its 68-years of providing private sports, social and swim club for area families, Michigan Shores has never had a female director.

Patch spoke with Poorman about how she'll use her two-year term to introduce the club's 1,000 families to 21st century lifestyles, while maintaining its sense of tradition. The board currently has 4 female members, including Poorman. 

Patch: The big news, of course, is that you are the first female president of Michigan Shores Club...

Poorman: Isn't it funny that it would take this long to have a woman? I never expected to be the first woman to do anything, I figured all those firsts had been taken, except for the first female President of the United States.

Patch: Were you surprised by this announcement, or was it an unspoken understanding that was a long time coming?

Poorman: There were a lot of feelers put out over whether I would do it or not and I guess I wasn't surprised because I worked very hard at the club and I spent a lot of time there and I made a lot of changes. It's a big responsibility, but in the end, I really love this club so it seemed like something i should do. I know everyone on the board and we have a great relationship so I wasn't that surprised. I am not employed, and I have the time, energy and the interest to really devote to the club, because I love this club.

Patch: Do you think you bring anything new to the table because of your gender?
Poorman: You know what, I do think so and the reason I say that is because there are a lot of women in this town, and in the North Shore suburbs, who ran companies like Lehman Brothers and now they're at home. There's this great group of women who are bright as hell, hardworking, incredibly organized, and I think there is so much untapped potential. We always used to joke that the PTA club could have the Illinois fiscal crisis solved in about 15 minutes because there were so many smart women among us.

Science has shown that women are more intuitive, they're very good at arranging things, making connections between people and it's nice that we have a board that is both women and men because we bring different skill sets and I think the men appreciate what the women bring to the table. They're actually pretty modern, cool guys.

Ten, 11, or maybe even 12 years ago there were no women on the board; I was the third woman on the board so it's all changed very quickly. Once the men found out what a good job women could do, they were eager to have more on the board.

Patch: Why do you love the club?
Poorman: It's a delightful sweet, cozy place that has this "Cheers" feeling, where you go there and people call you by name. There are widowed mothers in Wilmette, and they don't know any one but their children, and they join the club and instantly the older women of the club embrace them so they have a place to be. I find when people's children are grown and they move to our community, it's very difficult to make friends after your children are grown, and the club provides that. We have speakers, various committees including a charity committee, and the offshoot of that activity is you meet people.

Patch: You said you made a lot of changes at the club already, could you extrapolate?
Poorman: I've been head of Food and Beverage for a number of years, so we've modernized and improved the appeal [of the club] - it has a much more modern menu and we have this outdoor deck, where we host parties or different theme nights like an Island Night, a New York night where they serve martinis and steaks. Besides more casual events at the club, we offer a lot more healthy food at the club, including healthy things for kids. Country clubs tend to have very set menus, they serve burgers and steaks and that's just the way they've always done it, and the way they're always going to do it, and I've been able to change that mindset. We moved out of the 1950's club mindset to a more modern club, to a club that is very welcoming to families.

Patch: You've had a very active civil service life. How did it start?
Poorman: I started volunteering at my kid's school and did some outside volunteering on the side, but it was actually my children's volunteerism that encouraged me to be a more active volunteer. My children started volunteering at a very young age and they've gone on to do all kinds of things. They've worked with people who suffer from Hansen's Disease in Brazil, they've built schools in Honduras, and my daughter is on the board of Best Buddies at her college, a program that works with mentally challenged adults. It's my children that have made me move out of the personal realm and into the local realm of volunteering.