Tennant kept on trucking through JDC volunteer chairmanship

Aaron Tennant could not wipe the smile off his face as he presented the John Deere Classic trophy to the 2025 Champion Brian Campbell on the 18th green at TPC Deere Run. He flashed that smile all week long as he fulfilled his duties as this year’s JDC volunteer chairman. Behind the grin was a […]

Aaron Tennant could not wipe the smile off his face as he presented the John Deere Classic trophy to the 2025 Champion Brian Campbell on the 18th green at TPC Deere Run. He flashed that smile all week long as he fulfilled his duties as this year’s JDC volunteer chairman. Behind the grin was a great sense of pride for his Quad Cities hometown, the area’s signature PGA Tour event, title sponsor John Deere and especially, for the army of 2,300 volunteers. Each year they transform the Silvis golf course into a small city capable and ready to provide all the necessities a PGA tournament requires.  “I’ve always had a passion for the tournament,” he told the QCBJ on Sunday, July 6 at the JDC. The Orion, Illinois, native reminisced about when he was just a young tournament fan at then tournament host Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley. With his mother working as a volunteer standard bearer, he said “I’d just wander the course all day. No one knew where I was. There were no cell phones, no trackers.”  Fast forward to 2025 and the seasoned JDC Executive Board member was embracing every moment and responsibility as chairman. “You’ve got a lot to do,” he said, admitting to having some anxiety each year around the JDC. “And then I get here, the lights come on, the show starts, the week goes by and I don’t think about work. You get so focused, and quite frankly, you don’t want it to end.”

Inspired by JDC impact

Until joining the JDC’s board in about 2013, he did not realize the enormity of all the JDC’s moving parts or its full community impact.  

“We hear the numbers, $72 million in community impact. We think we’ll cross $200 million through Birdies for Charity this year. That’s awesome. But being inside that and understanding how that’s generated and seeing it impact 500 charities, it’s exciting,” he said.   Still, the challenge remains for the small JDC staff, the board and all involved “to tell our story better” and educate others about Birdies and its Bonus Fund. That fund is what guarantees the participating charities a minimum 5% bonus – and as much as 10% – on top of their own fundraising.     “Once I got on the board and started to understand it, feel it, then I knew it was something I really wanted to be a part of,” he said. “It’s a great way to touch a lot of charities in one swing.”  By day, Mr. Tennant is an entrepreneur whose companies include: Cantrell’s Towing; Total Solutions Inc., a Professional Employer Organization serving other businesses; Fred’s Towing, best known for its “Car dead, call Fred” age-old slogan and Riverbend Recycled Auto Parts. He also now has Trashley’s Disposal (named for wife Ashley, who he said at first was not happy with the ‘Got trash, call Ash’ tagline). “But she’s come to embrace it.” 

At home in Grunt Dome

Mr. Tennant is accustomed to buying companies, building them up and then finding the right people to manage them for him. “I’m not a good manager, so I have to keep buying businesses because my strength is building them.” But as he worked through the JDC volunteer board ranks, Mr. Tennant discovered the JDC already had the right people in place – some 2,300 volunteers and eight JDC paid staff including Tournament Director Andrew Lehman.  “I hire good people at my businesses to run them so I don’t have to, so that I can enjoy getting dirty, doing the hard (grunt) work as opposed to the management side,” said Mr. Tennant, who prefers a T-shirt and jeans over a suit and tie.  That model, he said, “lets me spend my time in a tow truck and heavy wrecker, and that’s my happy place.”  Under the board’s proven structure, Mr. Tennant – like volunteer chairs before him – rotated through overseeing many of the JDC committees to prepare for his chairman role. Not surprisingly, his stint in operations and getting dirty with the Grunt Dome volunteers was his favorite. But, he said, all those experiences and committees gave him insight into the big picture. 

“A quiet confidence’

“It’s fun because you get to work hand in hand with the committee chairs and those folks are the core, the backbone. They’re the workhorses,” he said. “They know it.”  Mr. Lehman, who just wrapped up his fourth JDC as its tournament director, has worked with many chairmen during his 19-year tenure with the Quad Cities’ PGA tour event. “It’s a unique business having a new boss every year.” Of this year’s boss, he said “Aaron brings a unique perspective as a business owner and operator of a number of companies. He’s been great, he has a very steady and calm demeanor. He has a quiet confidence.”  Much like Mr. Tennant’s own description of his leadership style, Mr. Lehman said “Aaron’s allowed our staff to do their jobs and flourish.” While every chair has their own strengths and personalities, he said Mr. Tennant’s “complete confidence in our staff” was very appreciated. Crediting the chairman’s entrepreneurial background, Mr. Lehman said the 2025 chairman knew that he could rely on the eight-person JDC staff, the 36-person board of directors, 130 committee chairs and 2,300 volunteers to all know and do their jobs.  “Ultimately, this is a board that cares so deeply about this event,” Mr. Lehman said, adding that such a commitment “sets us up for success.” So much so that the JDC ranks No. 1 on the PGA Tour in the money it raises per capita and regularly in the top three for total charitable giving. In addition, the JDC enjoys a 98% retention rate among its volunteers.  

JDC a family affair

Speaking of the tournament’s culture, Mr. Lehman said “That Midwest nice thing is a real thing. Our vendors, they see it (in our people) when they come here.”  For the Tennants, this year’s JDC was very much a family affair with wife Ashley hosting his companies’ hospitality chalet with their children – sons Preston, 16; Parker, 14; and Alex, 10; and daughter Gia, 8. Parker also worked a volunteer shift passing out ProAm gifts to the players, while Alex tagged walked along and Preston caddied as their dad golfed in the ProAm with defending JDC Champion Davis Thompson.  “My daughter, she just loves coming out here, riding along in the cart and going out to the Grunt Dome,” he said. When Gia wears his JDC badge around her neck “She thinks it’s a big deal.”  While clearly he did not want his time to end, Mr. Tennant now hands off the baton to the 2026 JDC volunteer chair Wendy Williams, who is senior vice president, Middle Market Banking, at Bank of America, Davenport.  “My advice to Wendy is very simple and it’s something at least a dozen of the past chairs shared with me and I didn’t take them as seriously,” Mr. Tennant said. “Slow down and enjoy it and soak it all in. The people out here are so good and they’ll prop you up when you need propped up. So there’s nothing to be nervous about.”