Joe Steranka

Following a 34-year career in professional sports, the final seven as the PGA of America’s Chief Executive Officer, Joe Steranka is enjoying a much earned sabbatical from the corporate world. The 55-year-old SOJ graduate continues to give back through his involvement with numerous philanthropic organizations including Children’s Healthcare Charities of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla, and the Folds of Honor Foundation of Owasso, Okla, for whom he chairs the Board of Directors.

During his 25 years with The PGA, Steranka guided the world’s largest working sports organization’s efforts to grow the game of golf and its biggest professional tournaments domestically and around the world. In addition to his duties as PGA CEO, he served as Chair of the World Golf Foundation and as a member of the leadership teams for the World PGA Alliance and the International Golf Federation’s work to return golf to the Olympic Games. More recently, Steranka steered a new industry government relations program We Are Golf, designed to achieve legislative and public affairs goals on behalf of the $68 billion a year golf industry.
His stewardship produced long standing broadcasting agreements with CBS, NBC Universal, Turner Broadcasting and others to distribute the PGA’s premier events including the Ryder Cup and PGA Championship to record worldwide audiences. He also cultivated a relationship with Leo Burnett, leading to popular public service announcements for PGA members and steered an unprecedented new media alliance with Time Warner establishing PGA.com as a leading golf destination on the Web.

A 1979 graduate of West Virginia University with a B.S. in journalism, he and his wife, Joann, live in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.