Who
Biography
Born & Raised in Mt. Gilead, North Carolina.
Graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1976 with a BS in Business Administration.
Johnny began his career in sales as a student at UNC when he sold books during the summer door to door with The Southwestern Company. His first summer Johnny was #1 First Year Sales person, out of over one thousand students, and set the company record for most volume sales by a rookie. He repeated the feat his second year by becoming the #1 experienced sales person in the country.
For the following three years Johnny was a District Sales Manager – interviewing, recruiting, training, and motivating college students to work 80 hours a week, 6 days a week, knocking on doors and selling books on straight commission.
In 1980 Johnny and his wife Genie moved to Hilton Head, where he began his real estate career selling timeshares at the Sea Crest Surf & Racquet Club. From 1985 to 1990 he worked on Daufuskie Island selling undivided resort interests at Melrose.
Johnny joined John Reed in 1990 at Colleton River as a sales executive and was instrumental in selling Colleton River, the first high end golf club community on the Mainland, just off of Hilton Head.
He followed up Colleton River with Belfair from 1995 – 2000 where again Johnny was a top sales executive while also serving as Director of Sales.
Continuing with Reed Development, in 2000 Johnny was instrumental in the envisioning, development, and sales and marketing of Berkeley Hall. He successfully balanced his roles as development partner, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and active sales professional until 2005.
From 2005 until the fall of 2009 Johnny was one of the key figures again with John Reed in envisioning, developing, and the sales and marketing of Hampton Lake, the first lake community in the Lowcountry. Hampton Lake was selected by the National Homebuilder’s Association in 2007 to receive their prestigious “Best in American Living Award” for the “Best Community Facility” in the United States and in 2008 was awarded the "Best Community in America".
In the fall of 2009, Johnny joined his son John to form The Ussery Group at Gateway Realty, where they utilize their experience and knowledge to assist customers with buying and selling real estate in the Lowcountry. Gateway Realty was founded in 2000, by Johnny and several partners as a full service real estate brokerage firm with offices now at the entrances of Colleton River, Belfair, Berkeley Hall, and Oldfield. Gateway has grown to become the #1 general brokerage company on the Mainland!
Family/Personal
Johnny married his junior high sweetheart, Genie, and they honeymooned on Hilton Head Island in 1977.
Three years later, in 1980, they moved to Hilton Head, where they raised their four children, John, Jordan, Jeff and Jackie.
John is married to Erin and they have two sons, a five and a three year old, and are expecting a third in the fall. Jordan is married and living in New York City where she, and her husband Trevor, have a two year old son and an infant daughter.
In May of 2011, Jeff graduated with a degree in Business Management from Georgia Tech, where he was recruited to play baseball. Jackie also graduated in May, from North Carolina State University, with a Communications degree.
Johnny and Genie are active members of Hilton Head Presbyterian Church, where Johnny serves as an elder.
Locally, Johnny has served as a dedicated and successful coach of high school basketball, including a State Championship team. He also coached a Hilton Head baseball team of 11 and 12 year olds in 1999, who won the Dixie Youth World Series Championship outside of Dallas, Texas.
Johnny has always enjoyed training, and has done numerous sessions for Terry Weaver’s annual ACES conference. He frequently received requests to do onsite sales training and consulting but rarely accepted due to the ages of his children and his volunteer coaching responsibilities.
Now that his children are grown and out of college, Johnny is available to travel and help other real estate developments and brokerage companies achieve immediate and lasting success.