Executive Director, Resort Services

Location: Norden

Sugar Bowl Resort is seeking an exceptional operator for the broadest leadership role on the mountain. The Executive Director of Resort Services owns the full sweep of the guest experience - sport programming, event delivery, on-mountain food and beverage, retail, rentals, guest services, and the operational infrastructure that runs beneath them all. Seven functions, one shared team, one standard.

This is not a role for a specialist. It calls for a rare combination: authentic snow sport credibility and proven senior leadership across multiple guest-facing, revenue-generating operations. If you have spent your career mastering both - the sport and the business - this is the role those years were building toward.

The timing is rare. With a major capital program complete, the next chapter belongs to the guest experience - and to the person who leads it. You will shape how every guest, from a first-timer to a fourth-generation family, experiences this mountain. Done well, that work compounds across seasons.

Why Sugar Bowl?

Sugar Bowl is a proudly independent resort at the top of Donner Summit - the closest major mountain resort to the Bay Area. For 87 years it has been a place of heritage, community, and genuine alpine character: 1,650 acres of terrain, exceptional snowfall, Austrian alpine roots, a storied relationship with Walt Disney, and 170 shareholder families who have made this mountain the center of their lives.

We are a public resort with a private soul. The Silver Belt Race is one of the oldest ski competitions in California. The Snow Sports School has shaped generations of skiers. This is not a blank-canvas operation - it is a living program with history, character, and a community that is watching closely.

The Portfolio:
Seven Functions, One Team

* Guest Services - ticketing, hosting, arrival experience, and paid parking; the front door of everything Sugar Bowl delivers

* Sport & Instruction - the Snow Sports School across all ages and abilities, advanced and backcountry programming, SBSTA liaison, and Nordic collaboration with Royal Gorge

* Events - delivery of every event on the calendar, from the Silver Belt Race to summer weddings, corporate events, and concerts

* On-Mountain Food & Beverage - Main Lodge, Mid-Mountain, and Royal Gorge; three venues, one standard

* Retail - the Sports Shop and satellite outlets across the resort

* Rentals - the on-hill fleet and workshop operations: boot fitting, tuning, and repair

* Operational Infrastructure - resort-wide shipping and receiving, building standards, and supply chain coordination

A note on events:
Marketing owns event sales and the commercial client relationship. This role owns everything from contract handoff through guest departure. Both sides work in close coordination; neither owns the other's function. Candidates should be genuinely comfortable in that split.

Who You Are

* A portfolio operator who sees the connections between functions - how instruction feeds rental, how rental feeds retail, how events animate F&B, and how a unified team serves all of them better than silos ever could

* A leader who builds leaders - recruits strong direct reports, gives them real authority, and holds them accountable to outcomes

* Genuinely in love with sport - not as a credential, but as a lived orientation that shows in everything you build, everyone you hire, and every guest you serve

* A creative, entrepreneurial program builder who sees opportunities in empty calendar space, underused terrain, and off-season months others treat as downtime

* A talent magnet - instructors, coaches, event professionals, F&B leaders, and guides want to work for you

* Guest-lens are always on: every program, every event, every menu, every terrain feature is evaluated through what it delivers to the person experiencing it

Skills & Qualifications

Required:

* Exceptional snow sport credentials as an athlete, instructor, coach, guide, and/or event professional - authentic expertise in the sports this role leads is non-negotiable

* Senior leadership experience across multiple guest-facing or revenue-generating resort functions - demonstrated multi-portfolio operational depth

* Proven event delivery leadership across multiple event types - sport, weddings, corporate, and/or entertainment - at meaningful scale

* Proven ability to build and develop high-performing teams across diverse departments, including unified staffing and cross-training models

* Experience recruiting and developing a senior leadership layer beneath the executive level

* Experience overseeing F&B operations in a resort, hospitality, or outdoor venue context

* Sound business judgment: able to own budgets, drive revenue, manage costs, and make resourcing decisions across a complex portfolio

* Excellent interpersonal and communication skills across guests, athletes, staff, sponsors, sales teams, and resort stakeholders

* Ability and willingness to work weekends, holidays, and extended hours during peak season

Strongly preferred:

* Deep…