Chairman/Chief Executive Officer
Ginn Resorts
Edward Robert "Bobby" Ginn is the chairman and chief executive officer of Ginn Resorts™. Ginn has spent the past three decades acquiring, developing and managing residential, resort golf course and mixed-use properties. He is considered an authority in resort development and management.
Ginn began his career working for his father, a builder in the small town of Hampton, South Carolina, where his family had been involved in agriculture and timber for three generations. A graduate of Florida Military School in Deland, Florida, Ginn majored in business at the University of South Carolina. He left school to return home to the construction business when his father became ill.
During his career, Ginn has worked in all aspects of real estate development and construction – from framing roofs and building cabinets to negotiating land contracts and overseeing permitting and planning. Working with his father, he renovated houses and built and sold homes through the Farmer's Home Administration. He started modestly, building four or five houses a year. Before long, however, he was completing 700 houses annually.
At the same time, he began developing apartment buildings, shopping centers and industrial warehouses.
As his company grew, Ginn gained valuable experience in sales, financing and subdivision development. By 1971, he was involved with his first golf project, Pleasant Point, in South Carolina. From 1975 to 1987, he lived in Hilton Head, developing, building and operating golf courses and hotels.
