Beach Boss

Every day is twenty-four hours in paradise for Greg Rogers ’88. He lives and works on Rote Island, a small, remote speck of unspoiled white sand beaches in the Indonesian archipelago. It’s a long way from Boston College, where Rogers majored in communication before establishing a successful career in film and television production. But trusting his gut and following his bliss brought him to idyllic Rote, where he’s made a home, family, and business: Nemberala Beach Resort, a boutique getaway for surfers with a similar sense of wanderlust. “About twenty-four years ago, I took a three-month sabbatical. I’m still on it,” said Rogers, who was in his mid-thirties and wrestling with professional burnout at the time. During an extended surfing vacation in Mexico, he met a resort owner who desperately needed a property manager. On a whim, Rogers took the job, loved it, and emailed surf resorts around the world looking for other opportunities. He found one at a resort in Samoa, eventually partnering with its owner to build the seaside bungalows of Nemberala on Rote from the ground up.

Today, besides running Rote’s surf-tourism utopia, Rogers is proud to be making a positive impact on the still largely untouched island by creating sustainable jobs and developing additional projects, such as a new seven-villa neighborhood for long-term stays. He also hopes his story might encourage other ambitious adventure seekers to carpe diem and pursue their personal destiny. To do so is a powerful feeling, like the one he gets riding a massive wave: “For a second,” he said, “you feel like you’ve harnessed the energy of the ocean."