Q: You worked your way up through the ranks, blowing snow and teaching ski school. Does that give you a better perspective on seasonal employees?
A: Understanding a little bit of what they go through every day definitely helps me relate to them and will help make me a little more empathetic in my decisionmaking.
But it’s a different generation of ski bums out there right now. They’re going through different struggles than I went through. Employee housing is probably the biggest one. It’s such a crunch here. Housing is our biggest non-ski challenge.
Q: What’s the biggest difference in being the boss?
A: The challenge is separating yourself from being the co-worker buddy, being somebody in a leadership position and having to make unpopular decisions. It’s been a tough transition. It’s something I’ve struggled with philosophically.
Getting my MBA from the University of Denver really helped me with that. As I came here to a management position, I was a little better equipped. I looked back at my past experiences and what I could have done differently.
Q: The majority of the daily flights into Aspen/Pitkin County Airport come through Denver International Airport. Will the major winter storms that shut down DIA just before Christmas have an impact on your skier-visitor numbers?
A: What’s gone is gone. The holidays are important because they create the buzz, but if we miss by a few thousand skier days over the holidays, that can be made up in one day in March.
I think things are lined up for a good season for everyone. The entire state having great snow this winter will be a big contributor. And the weak dollar and lack of snow in Europe isn’t going to hurt us either.
Q: Aspen is viewed as an aggressive environmental leader. Do you plan to continue that focus?
A: Definitely. The green agenda is the right thing to do for us on so many levels. Our push right now is to really look at green building principals and ramp up our green design.
Q: What base-area changes do you plan for your four resorts in the near future?
A: Buttermilk is our next opportunity. That’s something we’re going to be working on over the next 18 months. It’ll be some sort of mixed-use program that has some free markets, some employee housing and some skier services.
Q: Has your promotion cut into your time on the mountain?
A: It has. I hope to get 60 days in this winter; last year I did about 100 days. Some days it’s literally one run. Last week I had an extra 10 minutes before a lunch meeting, so I chose to show up five minutes late and get a run in instead of checking voice mail. I’m one of those managers who is out and about, walking around, skiing … a great way to interact with people and understand what’s going on out there.
Q: What do you like to do when you’re not skiing?
A: We have four kids, so they keep us busy. On vacation we always go to the beach, because in Colorado you can end up feeling a little landlocked at times. My favorite water sport used be windsurfing, but now it’s surfing. All of my kids are into it too. It’s a family adventure.
Edited for space and clarity from an interview by staff writer Julie Dunn.
