CORK & TEE’s founders bring complementary backgrounds and a fresh perspective to the boutique golf vacation travel space. We have augmented our expertise with a cadre of outstanding partners.

Principals & Co-Founders

Gene Holland

Gene brings more than 15 years of experience in the golf industry to CORK & TEE. He was a member of the varsity golf team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he played with notables such as Davis Love, III and Jack Nicklaus, II.

Following his collegiate playing days, Gene spent eleven years as a club professional, earning his PGA Class A membership and honing his skills as a player, golf instructor and administrator. After receiving his MBA from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, he worked nearly five years as a commercial banker before launching CORK & TEE.

Although Gene has been reinstated as an amateur golfer, he remains highly qualified to administer golf events and assess course facilities. He is a fan of classic golf course designs—Donald Ross’s Pinehurst Number Two is his favorite—and along the way acquired a passion for fine wine and microbrews.

Jim Dondero

Jim traces his passion for travel, wine and things culinary to a college semester in Paris which was his entrée into a culture dominated by fine wine and cuisine. He planned his first group travel adventure at age 17 when he organized a trip to Italy and has enjoyed planning complex group travel ever since.

Through 20 years of corporate experience, most notably as vice president of marketing for a global telecommunications company, Jim acquired various competencies relevant to CORK & TEE including a strong customer focus and expertise in business partner identification and relationship management. His appreciation for exceptional personalized service comes from past executive responsibility for corporate hospitality programs as well as his own extensive travel experiences worldwide.

Jim hails from the Monticello AVA, an up-and-coming appellation in central Virginia where he dreams of planting wine grapes one day. He holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.