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Cynthia Reeves | SBJ

2022 Men of the Year: Brian Cheever

Clear Creek Golf Car and Powersports

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Brian Cheever loves what he does and always looks forward to the workday.

“We are absolutely blessed,” he says, referring to the team he leads as CEO and managing partner of Clear Creek Golf Car and Powersports.

The popularity of electric- and gas-powered golf and utility cars helped fuel Clear Creek to $29 million in 2021 revenue and kept Cheever busy as the company relocated this spring to new headquarters off U.S. Highway 65 across from James River Church. As the company has expanded from two locations to six in Missouri and Arkansas, employee count grew, too.

Since Cheever became CEO and managing partner, Clear Creek has grown from 18 to 58 employees.

“We’ve redesigned our entire structure, plugging in a lot of new people and teaching many other long-term employees new roles,” Cheever says. “The two things that I think are significant accomplishments within that are identifying and hiring quality people, and second, taking the quality people already on our team and coaching them up into new roles and handling additional responsibilities.”

The move to the new corporate office coincided with acquiring a location in Little Rock, Arkansas. Completing all of this within a month was no small feat.

“To pull them both off, more or less without a hitch, while also taking care of our considerable customer needs as the busy part of our season was upon us was really a shining moment for our team,” Cheever says.

He strives to lead in all areas.

“There is nothing I ask an employee to do that I would not do,” Cheever says. “I am as invested in our people as I am in our business. … Healthy employees are happy and successful employees, and we lead our business in a way that promotes personal health, wellness and work/life balance.”

He focuses on putting people in the correct positions and taking a hands-on approach to training.

“Very talented people can still struggle if they are not in the right spot within an organization,” Cheever says. “I believe that I have been blessed with the God-given ability to identify those matches, and we have consistently grown our people into roles that fit them. … We have a lot of new people, mostly young and some not so young, and I invest time and energy in each and every one of them.”

Cheever started as a sales rep and has been with the company for more than 20 years.

“We’ve hired good people and empowered them to succeed while providing clear expectations and a clear path to achieve that success, filled with reward and praise along the way,” he says. “Awards and recognition are great, but what makes me smile, what gives me joy, what pushes me to succeed, is the simple feeling of satisfaction … from building something that others would have never thought possible and doing it with regular people just like myself.”

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