Leading Man

Growing up on a dairy farm in a town with only one stop sign, John C. Tolbert's world couldn't have been more different than it is now - with the South Florida resident celebrating his third year as president of the prestigious Boca Raton Resort & Club.

His father was an Air Force colonel, and his mother was a political powerhouse who spent three decades as the mayor of Barnesville, Maryland. The concept of serving one's community is woven deep into the fabric of his DNA, he says.

So, too, is exploring the world. Tolbert was born on an Air Force base in England shortly before moving with his family to Barnesville, where they settled in a home that has housed generations of his family since 1780.

"From as early as I can remember, we loved to travel as a family. Whether by car, plane or boat, there was always some magnificent discovery," says Tolbert, the youngest of four children. "I truly had the best of all possible worlds and never felt isolated intellectually or restricted by geographic boundaries."

A high school exchange trip to London was a defining moment in his life, he says, infecting him with a travel bug that motivated him to pursue a career as a hotelier in Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Florida and Tennessee.

Along the way, he's become an award-winning leader in the hospitality industry. Last year, Tolbert was named Business Leader of the Year by the Greater Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce, and, in 2017, Hilton dubbed him Luxury Leader of the Year.

The awards reflect not only his performance managing the day-to-day operations of one of the country's premier resort destinations and private club facilities but also his work with countless charities.

In addition to serving on eight boards, Tolbert is the co-founder of Stronger & Better Together, a nonprofit that assisted early relief efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria. He was also the top community fundraising dancer for Boca's Ballroom Battle in 2017, raising nearly $200,000 for the George Snow Scholarship Fund. He co-chaired the event the following year.

"Even in this affluent area, there are still so many people in our own backyard who might be in need of our assistance," he says. "The real world requires our full-time attention - you should never live in an isolated bubble." O