Jim Gissy

Jim Gissy began his career in sales at the age of 21 for the American Income Life Insurance Company where he quickly became as the number one sales agent in Northern California. By the age of 22, Jim had become the number one sales agent out of 1,100 throughout the United States. After a family trip to Orlando, Florida in 1983, Jim joined Westgate Resorts in January 1984 as a sales representative. Mr. Gissy’s talent was quickly noticed as he began setting records throughout the company. As a result of his tremendous sales ability and his talent in leading and developing others, he was promoted to sales manager after only eight months. Over the next several years, Mr. Gissy significantly expanded his management responsibilities, culminating in his appointment as Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing in January 1990. Today Mr. Gissy leads a team of thousands of sales, marketing and operations professionals across Westgate Resorts.

In 1996, Mr. Gissy was the recipient of the exclusive ARDY Award from the American Resort Development Association (ARDA) as the Top Sales Executive and has received numerous other industry accolades and awards over his thirty-year career. In addition to his responsibilities at Westgate, over the past thirty years, Mr. Gissy has amassed a large portfolio of personal real estate holdings and is one of the largest players in the Central Florida real estate market.

Mr. Gissy owns over 70 diverse properties including over 2,500 acres of vacant land mortgage-free across the central Florida area. His personal portfolio and partnerships include over two million square feet of commercial real estate, office & industrial buildings, hotels, RV parks, condominiums, billboards, retail shopping centers and historic Florida landmarks. Some of his prime locations include the Cocoa Beach Pier, downtown Windermere, Gissy Springs, the Sea View Inn – Melbourne Beach, the historic Wells Fargo Building in Cocoa Beach and the historic ten-story SunTrust building on Church Street in downtown Orlando. Mr. Gissy is also the largest private landowner on Florida’s renowned spring-fed Rainbow River - home to the fourth largest natural spring in the state of Florida where he owns thousands of feet of river frontage across hundreds of acres of pristine Florida land.

Jim currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Westgate Resorts Foundation and is a major sponsor of the University of Florida Natural History Museum's efforts to support a Sustainable Florida Aquifer and Spring System. Mr. Gissy is the proud father of three children and grandfather of six.