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We Are All About the Future

Leadership succession has been, and remains, a high priority for many mountain resorts. How do you identify and prepare your future leaders? It can be daunting. With your help, we at SAM have long been recognizing talented resort personnel through our annual 10 Under 30 report and the SAMMY Leadership Awards. (SAMMY nominations open Jan. 1, by the way.) But identifying future leaders is just one step in succession planning.

Our newest program, the Summit Series, takes a more active role. Launched last year, this season-long leadership development program pairs industry veterans with aspiring leaders from across North America. The conversations between advisers and mentees can be read in articles, and listened to on PodSAM, our new podcast channel that has seen 4,500 downloads to date.

In the Series’ inaugural season, our esteemed advisers were Bill Jensen, Telluride; Kris Blomback, Pats Peak; Barb Green, Blue Mountain (Pa.); Jody Churich, formerly with Powdr; Blaise Carrig, Vail Resorts; and John Rice, Sierra-at-Tahoe. They provided a ton of useful knowledge, guidance, and shared some incredible stories. Listen to the podcasts and/or read the articles. Many industry colleagues have told us these conversations have helped spark productive dialogue at their resort.

Now, the Summit Series leadership development program returns for a second year. We are thrilled to welcome another amazing cast of advisers (see below), and it couldn’t happen without the support of the Series sponsors—MountainGuard, High Peaks Group, and new this year, Leitner-Poma—and “deep dive” partner Colorado State University.

Our advisers for year two are a diverse and extremely talented bunch of both seasoned and new leaders, from all regions and from resorts of all sizes:

• Rich Burkley, SVP Strategy and Business Development, Aspen Skiing Company
• Russ Coloton, President, Hunter Mountain, NY
• Ben Doornbos, General Manager, Nub’s Nob, MI
• Nadia Guerriero, General Manager, Northstar-at-Tahoe, CA
• Peggy Hiller, VP of Operations, Arapahoe Basin, CO
• Kim Locke, Vice President, Lake Louise, Alberta
• Kim Mayhew, President/COO, Solitude Mountain Resort, UT
• Jay Scambio, President/General Manager, Loon, NH
• Steve Wright, President/General Manager, Jay Peak, VT

Thank you, as always, for reading, and for your ongoing support of all we do.