Boyne Resorts LIFT

Transcript for Episode 6

Speaker 1: 0:00

[ Editor's Note: This episode has not yet been edited and will contain incorrect and/or misinterpreted spelling.]

Nick Lambert: 0:06

Welcome to episode six of the Boyne Team Member podcast. I'm Nick Lambert. I'm here with Michael Anselmi and Kari Roder. Kari, what do we have in store today?

Kari Roder: 0:15

We have another great guest with us today. Dan Beeler, he's our CIO. And for those that don't know what that stands for-- Chief Information Officer. I am so stoked to talk to him and learn about the events that took place over the past year, how the team handled it and how he led them through it. And also to discuss, you know, what the roadmap for the future looks like technology-wise for Boyne Resorts. So let's get to it.

Michael Anselmi: 0:45

Thanks, Carrie. Dan, welcome. Great to have you on and thanks for taking the time to join us. You bet. Pleasure. So let's just, let's just kick it off. You know, I, you know, I know you, well, Nick does Carrie, but for those that don't, what's your background. How did you end up at Boyne? Just kinda peel the onion apart for us,

Dan Beeler: 1:09

Uh, for the 30,000 foot level of see, I, I, uh, learned tech, got I graduated from college in the late nineties or late eighties, early nineties. I went into the air force shortly thereafter. I picked up some technology experience in there and learn Unix and Oracle. But when I got out, I really couldn't find a job. So I ended up, uh, taking a contracting job, working in Arizona. And, um, I went in and out of Arizona for the next a little bit, but I spent 20 years here working for, uh, best Western Shamrock foods and circle K stores. The opportunity came up to go to Boyne and, uh, actually on a whim. I was, I really liked the Midwest. I grew up in Indiana. And so I decided to, uh, fire a resume that way. And it went well, had a good conversation. As soon as I met the team at point I knew I wanted to work there. So it, it, uh, it was a really good experience and I love it. It's a great place to be.

Nick Lambert: 2:01

So Dan, I want to dive right into some things that happened last fall, big things, right. We were the victims of a ransomware attack for, for the non Nike pros. Like Michael, What exactly does that mean? And then, you know, take it from the top. What happened? And what did that, how were we effected? How did we work through it? Just kind of talk through everything.

Dan Beeler: 2:27

Sure. So ransomware attack is, is basically a, a threat actor. That's what we'll call them, comes into your system, either through some backdoor or through some other method, they get access to your system. And then in this case, what they did is they took our files and they encrypted them. So when you have a file that's encrypted, you can't use it. The file is still on your desktop, but it's basically putting a lock around that file. We don't have access to it. So what happened for us is, is that on the morning of October 18th, um, we got the ransomware attack started, started at Boyne mountain. They found, they discovered it doing night audit. That's not where the event happened, but it is where we discovered it. And then, um, we moved forward from that. I got a call. I was in Arizona. I was, uh, my wife and my daughter were hiking, the grand canyon. And we, they just finished that day. And I got a call about three 30 in the morning, six 30 Eastern. And, uh, there's a, Hey, we have a big problem. Something's going on? Chris Colson called me and, uh, the night auditor had called him in and they basically started seeing the files on the night. Auditors machine changed the easy to lock and they were unaccessible. So what we did is like, I kept, I just remember Chris Colson going, this is bad. This is really bad. This is bad. This is really bad. And it just went from there. So, you know, I got everybody involved as quickly as we can. We called, uh, Nick, Marvin, Ryan, uh, Nisho Dan Holden, and a few others got the technical folks involved, Mike Dunn, Beck. And we sort of had a quick powwow. We decided very quickly to shut things down and move forward. Shortly after that, I got on the phone with the C-suite and we started talking about our path forward, but I can go into great detail if you want, but that's sort of what happened. It's really ironic because they don't really take anything away from you. They just make it so you can't access it.

Kari Roder: 4:18

It's crazy because I think all of us, I don't know. We all remember where we were, what we were doing when you got the news. Right? Like I know I was checking out of one of the condos at Boyne Highlands with family. I get a phone call from lodging director here at Boyne mountain. He's like, our computers are down. I was like, what? The,

Nick Lambert: 4:40

I will call it a universal oh, moment. Forever across. Yeah,

Dan Beeler: 4:46

I totally agree with that. I remember it like it was yesterday because we were in the Mazza WIC lodge at the grand canyon, which if you've ever been there, you know, that the service is not great. So my phone was going in and out. The wifi is extremely slow. I'm trying to do a video conference, which was unacceptable. We ended up doing a voice conference instead, but yeah, you're right, Carrie, right? No, exactly what I was doing.

Nick Lambert: 5:07

Exactly. So Dan, I'll be honest with you. I thought that your team were, were absolute rock stars. Even before this. How did they dig in to get us out of this? Like what did, what did your team have to do to navigate this?

Dan Beeler: 5:23

So when the event happened, we found out that, um, w we engage with our insurance company who put us in touch with, uh, another company called CRA there. They do cyber forensics. They're all based out of MIT on the east coast, a bunch of really smart dudes, uh, gals and dudes. Um, but so we started working backwards as to what happened in our path forward. What we ended up finding out is the guys that hit us was a company called evil court based on a Russia. And the deal with them is, is that, um, you cannot pay a ransom to this company because they're on, what's called the OFAC. The OFAC is a sort of a restricted list of people who are known to be like state sponsored terrorist. So we were within a couple of hours of paying that bill and saying, okay, let's get our systems back. We've already validated that their descriptors would work to unencrypt. The files that we had. It would have been a very short path back to recovery. Um, but our great leader, Steven did not want to pay them for one thing, which I appreciate because Steven's like, if we pay these guys, they're just going to keep doing this. Right. Um, you know, we encourage that behavior, but the path forward, however, did not allow us to pay them. They were on this list. We worked with a couple hours of paying them. So what ended up happening is we couldn't pay them. So we basically, from October 18th to Thanksgiving day, we had to recover pretty much every system that we had that generates revenue for our company. So talk about my people that my team is fantastic. I mean, I could not ask for a better team. Everybody on my team stepped up. I had teams, I had the folks on the team working. Sometimes I had a David Siebert. I'll call them out by name, but Nick and Taylor Bradford, but David worked, I think in seven days he probably worked 110 hours, but which was not uncommon. We saw that stuff over and over again. You know, um, we'd like to talk about excellence in our company and is one of the Boyd basics, but I saw it demonstrated every day during that. Well, I see it demonstrated all the time, but it was highlighted during that period, which was pretty phenomenal

Nick Lambert: 7:22

Weeks or months. Like how long did it take to fully bring us back to the whole

Dan Beeler: 7:27

Blue, bring us back two months. Um, you know, we, this hit on October 18th and our goal is always Thanksgiving, as you all know. Um, so by Thanksgiving we had the RTP instances and everything up and running. We had a lot of work to recover later. We had to fix some payroll stuff because we never want people to miss a paycheck. So we basically cut paychecks that the paycheck that you got on, like the 29th or whatever it was the last day of the month in September, you got for several weeks until we figured out how to move forward with payroll, because they ended up hitting our payroll environment as well. So the HR accounting and it teams worked for another several months to get that fixed at least another two and a half months to get that fixed.

Kari Roder: 8:09

Now you mentioned excellence and execution, and that is one of our brain basics. And part of that means being prepared. Um, how has your team prepared to take on such a gigantic challenge?

Dan Beeler: 8:24

You know, candidly, I don't think we were prepared for what we saw. One of the things that we have is what we call an incident response plan. If something happens, we, we have a plan on how to deal with it. So typically, and I've been doing this for 30 years. Um, the plans are around a department division, a resort. We did not think of something. This massive would come in the way that we were hit. They came in, they sat in our system for about three weeks. They understood what, who we are, what we do, they get, we've got access to our machines via some, some, some backdoor methods. And then they deleted our backups. So we didn't really think that that was going to be an option. We have multiple copies of our backups, but anyways, they were able to initiate the storage array, where our backups were still a story. So did we anticipate this big of a response or this big of an incident? No, we didn't. We do. Now, now we do tabletop exercises. So we sort of plan this stuff out and see how we move forward. And we've taken a lot of steps too. So this type of thing wouldn't happen again. And we've built in these little compartments where we can lock a door off. So if something happens where you hit by a torpedo, another ransomware attack, we can seal off a compartment. We can keep going down, you know, keep moving along and then repair what we need to do and then, and then go on. So we limit the impact of what we happens now, but a lot to be learned,

Kari Roder: 9:44

You feel like, you know, we've talked a lot about on the operation side of things that, you know, we learned a lot from COVID from going through a pandemic and what did we change? You know, maybe we learned a better way of doing business and maybe there are more efficient protocols of good take with cleaning and all of that stuff. And we've, we've changed the way we do things because we learned things from COVID. And I remember, um, Steven at one point saying, you know, he felt like this ransomware stuff is like a, it's another pandemic it's happening to so many people. What did, what did we learn? Are we doing things differently now than we would have? You know, what technology improved because of it?

Dan Beeler: 10:26

Yeah. Um, this is a great question. We do things totally different. Now we have, uh, you know, I won't say that a security was ignored. It's just something that wasn't forefront in our industry. And I, and I say industry, I don't just mean Boyne. It's not something that was top of mind for a lot of folks. A lot of these places, a lot of our resorts and our competitors are, uh, started out very small and they sort of grew organically or the regional, it's not something that was top of mine. So one of the things that we've done is, well, we came up with a comprehensive plan to move the team for us to move the company forward. So over the last 10 months or nine months or so, we've been implementing that plan. That means a new state of the art firewalls. We put in new fishing tools to manage phishing campaigns. We've built a really strong security around our organization. We've gone through and, and, and set up a bunch of additional tools to manage access and taken away rights from people. Um, we've engaged with, uh, a lot of other companies to make sure that we're doing the best things we can do. So we have a couple calls a month where we work with other industry leaders to talk about how they do things and we share what we've done and what's happened to us. Uh, we also do that with some other people in the industry around retail and in manufacturing. So we know we're getting a very good comprehensive approach to our security, uh, uh, footprint now. So, but, you know, importantly we've shared that information. So we try to make sure that, uh, I've had calls with Bev and Altera and powder and aspirin with a bunch of people in our industry to share what's happened to us so they don't get caught, uh, in the same situation we did.

Kari Roder: 12:08

I love that. I love that about the ski industry, that everybody comes together, works together and, and can help each other out in those ways. Um, I think the other amazing thing that we saw from, you know, on the resort side of things is all of a sudden, you know, with COVID, we were forced to come into all this new technology. And we were talking about RFID at our resorts. We've got new online ordering for all of our dining locations. How in the heck do you guys pull that off on top of after like fixing all that mess?

Dan Beeler: 12:39

You know, it's one of the things when I talked to, to, to the senior team, that's one of the things I was really proud of is, is that RFID was already in, in, in scope. We were already working on it as was the, uh, epigenesis solution for online ordering for food and beverage. But we, we didn't miss a beat. We were able to still do that. And we were able to do some, um, additional work around the e-commerce side for SK-II online purchases. You know, we put a lot more technology in place there as well. So it was a really cool, and I got to, you know, I hand it to my team and we talk about excellence in its execution. My guys crushed it. Um, everybody has a role on the team and they did a really good job. So working really well together. Yeah. I get to, I get to be the one who gets to talk to a lot of people, but I always tell everybody, I got a lot of smart people working for me

Michael Anselmi: 13:31

To drive a long bus. Yeah. I mean, Dan, you know, you've been through a lot, this is like Uber, Uber, super bootcamp, you know, you're emerging, COVID, you know, who knows what lies ahead, the incident, what do you see in the future for Boyne and technology? What's kind of some high-level mid-level type of things, you know, talking about the near term also opportunities. Just kind of give us a little bit of education that aren't at the pulse of it.

Dan Beeler: 14:04

So, very good question. I would say we're going to continue down this digital transformation path that we've been working toward. Um, I think we're going to see additional consolidation of systems as much like we did with the, the, uh, FNB solutions where we went from six, five or six depending, um, uh, if you call to your square and solution, but, um, where we went down to a single one with, uh, epigenesis, we're going to see that same type of rationalization in our application suites probably next will be the, the, uh, mountain POS system. So over the next 18 months or so we w we look forward to replacing Siriusware with RTP at the, uh, the date of ski resorts out west. We'll continue to, um, work on security projects throughout the company. We've done a lot of system hardening that I see that continuing to happen. We have projects in scope for a payroll replacement, then we'll take our payroll solution and move it to the cloud, um, some time keeping stuff as well. And then eventually we'll start working on some of these other systems to include maybe a property management system and maybe a new score solution, but those are, you know, months or years out, but there's a lot of work in queue for the team here. So,

Michael Anselmi: 15:17

Well, good. Well, that's good to hear that. And we're excited because I think these solutions that we put in play this year, the steps that we've taken, I think, you know, there's still a lot of things to do, but a lot of opportunity and a lot of efficiency. So, you know, as we started with our executive producer on the first podcast, we instituted something called final final, and it's, uh, it's quite like a quick, quick round, you know, like jeopardy or something where we just shoot some questions to you, get some quick answers. And hopefully we learned some interesting things about you. So we're going to just dive right in with final, final, final, final dinner menu and who is in attendance,

Dan Beeler: 16:00

Dinner menu would probably be steak and crab because, you know, I used to be a fishing guide in Alaska and I love crab. Uh, and who's in attendance probably would be, uh, my family spent a lot of time with my family, unless you're saying about people that we work with, but if it's anybody, I have a two daughters, uh, two grown daughters and, uh, really likes spending time with him. So it would probably be my family.

Kari Roder: 16:29

So final, final spot, other than one of our resorts that you'd like to vacation at,

Dan Beeler: 16:36

I love Kodiak Alaska. So I'd probably go to Kodiak. We spent a lot of time there fishing.

Kari Roder: 16:41

Okay. So I've heard some stories about you fishing in Alaska. Is it true that you took basically a small dinghy off shore, a hundred yards in the Bering sea?

Dan Beeler: 16:54

I took it a hundred miles in the Gulf of Alaska. Yeah. I took it from a actually I've done it a few times. Yeah. I took a, a 13 foot inflatable from Whittier, Alaska all the way out to, to, uh, pass green island, Montague island. So in the, in prince William salmon, I'm

Nick Lambert: 17:15

Going to say, you're not like the typical key guy,

Dan Beeler: 17:18

It directors, uh, I heard that a lot. Yeah. So,

Kari Roder: 17:22

Well, yeah, he was hiking the grand canyon when the ransomware hit. He's a Renaissance, man. Yeah. I love that. Okay, Nick, your turn.

Nick Lambert: 17:34

All right. Final final. What are you going to live on? Saltwater or

Dan Beeler: 17:38

Freshwater? Got water.

Kari Roder: 17:41

That's quick.

Dan Beeler: 17:43

So it was a fishing guide and I guided in Alaska and then I was in out of Seward and Homer. Uh, I love salt water. Wow,

Kari Roder: 17:52

Beautiful. Okay. So then that fishing trip, um, your like ultimate fishing trip, where do you go and who do you go with?

Dan Beeler: 18:01

You know, I'd like to go, even though it's different from my last answer, I'd really like to go trout fishing in Australia. And I would probably take, I have a really good friend that I was in the air force with. And, uh, I would probably take him cause he's a big fly fisherman as well.

Kari Roder: 18:18

Awesome. Brad keen might be a little hurt by that answer. Wow.

Dan Beeler: 18:22

I would love to take Brad. Uh, we do a lot of stuff together, but my other buddy is a, that's his passion. And I think Brad, it's just something he enjoys. Awesome.

Nick Lambert: 18:32

Brad's an executive producer of, of our seat. He has a lot going on already.

Dan Beeler: 18:36

Yeah, he does. I know how the guy does it as it is. He's pretty busy.

Michael Anselmi: 18:43

Last question. Okay. 110 degree, Arizona, summer sun or 85 and a hundred percent humidity Florida fall.

Dan Beeler: 18:57

Well, I would probably choose the Arizona sun, um, only because it's not as human and the humidity is pretty tough. Having lived in Florida and Arizona, I would choose Arizona as far as the temperature goes, but as activity goes, I would choose Florida because of the salt water. So I didn't really answer your question, but if I forced, I would say Arizona as a

Nick Lambert: 19:19

Ground, non-answer textbook. Not answer,

Dan Beeler: 19:22

Go to politics after this.

Nick Lambert: 19:24

I will. Yeah.

Kari Roder: 19:27

I'll vote for you.

Nick Lambert: 19:30

Thanks for joining us. This, this has been a lot of fun. Thanks guys.

Kari Roder: 19:36

Wow. What an incredible time to be a part of Boyne and see our leadership team work together. So fluidly, uh, to work through such a crazy event that happened to us. Um, Dan Beeler, he's like the coolest guy. I know. I think,

Nick Lambert: 19:54

I think you're spot on. I think those guys were awesome. You know, they are boring basics inaction, right? Excellence and execution. They epitomize it. That's what they did coming out of this ransomware event. I mean, I will tell you, I, for one, feel better knowing that Dan and that whole team are behind the whole company and what we're doing here every day, a

Kari Roder: 20:14

Hundred percent. I agree.

Michael Anselmi: 20:17

Can I just wish were there when my AOL instant messenger account got hacked,

Nick Lambert: 20:23

Michael toughens, tough times.

Michael Anselmi: 20:25

Tough times.

Kari Roder: 20:26

Well, I'm sorry to hear about that, Michael, but I'm not sorry to hear that. It's time for team member of the month here on the lift podcast. It's one of my favorite things that we do. We get to highlight team members from all around Boyne resorts. You can nominate someone by simply emailing us at podcast@boyneresorts.com. Welcome back to one of my favorite parts of our podcast. It's the team member highlight. If you have a team member that you would like to nominate to be featured on the lift, simply email us podcast@boyneresorts.com. This month we have Taylor Bradford. Taylor's a systems analyst for the business solutions team. He works for Nick Marvin, but came highly recommended by Dan Beeler. He really is on a great team of it folks that we have working for us, but Taylor's a problem solver. He comes to us with a table of ideas and solutions. He is great at collaborating, working across our organization, and he had an integral part of the recovery after the ransomware event. Taylor, welcome to the podcast. Okay. So we want to know a little bit more about you, Taylor, where are you from? How did you get to Boyne?

Taylor Bradford: 21:50

Yeah, so I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and after I finished college at Michigan, I was looking for something to do. So I ended up out in Big Sky to teach snowboarding. And from there I started working on our RTP and online sales and then moved over to IT. And now about two years ago joined Nick Marvin's team and business solutions.

Kari Roder: 22:14

Excellent. So can you tell us a little bit about the ransomware event and what role you played in that?

Taylor Bradford: 22:23

Yeah, so I actually was on my way home from The Summit at Snoqualmie and Monday morning got a email from Nick and that not sure what we're doing yet. And basically that we don't have access to anything. And from there it was kind of just putting together a plan of what we actually had and what we needed to get put back together, fixed and all that, and kind of took a while to identify really where we were at. But once it was time to go, it was time to go and start putting everything back together. Lots of long days, long nights. And, yeah.

Kari Roder: 22:59

So I know from experience just because I know that you've worked with some members of my team that, you know, you're, you're a superstar, what you do. Um, they lean on you heavily to find solutions when we have different e-commerce issues or a different way that we want to sell a product. Where did you learn all of that? Is that all from, from U of M?

Taylor Bradford: 23:28

It's just something I've always enjoyed. I've always found it really fun if someone gives me a problem and I have to come up with a solution and it's always just something that I find fun.

Kari Roder: 23:40

Well, I can definitely tell you that you are well-trusted here at, and a lot of people lean on you. So congratulations. And, uh, also another congratulations is in store for you because you were named one of the top 11 under 30 from Sam magazine. Thank you. Was that a surprise or how did that come about? Yeah, you're making headlines Taylor. Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. We were so proud to have you on our team and also to be able to highlight you as one of our team member highlights here on the lift. It was so nice to have Taylor Bradford on the line. And because this month is all about excellence and execution, Dan Beeler decided to nominate another person from his team and well-deserved Mike Dembeck. Mike is a senior network engineer. He works on the corporate team for Dan Hoadley. Mike is based out of Montana and another rock star it person for Boyne. His involvement was instrumental in the recovery of our ransomware event. Mike leads the diagnostics and forensic work for Boeing, and he also designed our new security architecture and is leading the way as we deploy all of these new solutions to keep all of our data safe. So, so important. Mike also serves as an escalation point person for our most challenging internal problems. And he's the guy that they lean on when they're not really sure what to do. So congratulations to Mike as well. Both of these guys are receiving$50 gift cards from boiling country sports. If you want to nominate somebody to be a team member highlighted on the lift, simply email us at podcast@boyneresorts.com,

Michael Anselmi: 25:37

Taylor Bradford, solid individual, great guy. I can't tell you how many times over the last 12 months, he's always there with a solution, an idea to help us out with all of our products. He is a real unknown MVP at this company. So Taylor enjoy your$50 a point in country sports.

Kari Roder: 25:59

So you guys, I heard this crazy rumor and I don't know if it's true, but maybe Nick can confirm.

Nick Lambert: 26:07

Well, the word I got is the next episode. We've got John McGregor on the hook. And if so, I can promise you, it will be a memorable episode. I don't know what exactly what material he'll give us to work with, but it'll be worth tuning in for

Michael Anselmi: 26:24

Cannot wait.

Kari Roder: 26:26

You better bookmark the lift podcast on your browsers right now.

Nick Lambert: 26:32

See you guys next episode.

Transcript for Episode 5

Brad Keen: 0:00

Welcome to episode five of The Lift, a Boyne Team Members Podcast. I'm Brad Keen, Senior VP of Food and Beverage and Executive Producer of the show. I am so happy and honored that I get to introduce one of my closest friends, Dana Bullen, President of Sunday River. Dana explores his 36 years in the ski industry and what it takes to be a leader. He has quite a roster of teammates he's helped develop over the years, which is one of our lead principles, developing great people. Enjoy the show.

Nick Lambert: 0:33

Welcome to episode five point team member podcast. I'm Nick Lambert. I'm here with Michael Anselmi and Kari Roder, and some big news to start off. We've hit the big time and you can now download us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you download your favorite podcasts. Kari, what's your favorite podcast right now?

Kari Roder: 0:53

Well, beside this one, you know, I really like Lindsay Dyer's, podcast"ShowingUp." I listen to that occasionally and I also follow some van life people. Is that weird?

Michael Anselmi: 1:05

Well, you have a van, right? Or you want a van?

Kari Roder: 1:07

I would love to have a van, a camper van. Yeah,

Michael Anselmi: 1:13

Well, we have a great one on tap today. If you've been in the ski industry for half a second, you have either heard a Dana Bullen story or have been a part of one. I'm excited that we got him on the show today and get to learn more about his 30 plus year career in the business.

Kari Roder: 1:28

Nick, how many years have you worked with Dana?

Nick Lambert: 1:30

A lot.

Kari Roder: 1:31

A lot. Do you have some high hopes that there's going to be some stories unveiled that maybe no one has heard before?

Nick Lambert: 1:40

I will say this. If we wanted to make it to episode six, that's probably not the place to start. Probably not a good idea.

Kari Roder: 1:48

Dana, welcome to the lift.

Dana Bullen: 1:51

Thanks. I appreciate you inviting me.

Kari Roder: 1:54

So you took over as General Manager at Sunday River 16 years ago. Where were you before that?

Dana Bullen: 2:00

I had worked at Sugarloaf for the previous 15 years. And while at Sugarloaf, I worked for the parent company at that time, which was American Skiing Company.

Kari Roder: 2:10

So in your 16 years of running one of the largest resorts in New England, what has been the biggest change that you have seen since you've started?

Dana Bullen: 2:20

Well, it's easier to tell you what at Sunday River hasn't changed. At Sunday River, what hasn't changed as a passion for snow and snowmaking. And we've been after that. Other than that, Kari, almost everything's changed in the last year. Things have changed even more.

Nick Lambert: 2:38

So, Dana, as you know, one of our company goals heading into the season is recruiting the right people and finding the right position for them, getting them in the right seat on the bus, as you would like to say. How do you, how and where do you find new team members and how do you keep them with the resort? And as part of the team, long-term?

Dana Bullen: 2:55

You know, Nick, Sunday River has always had a reputation for being able do that. And in my tenure here in 16 years, I've been blessed with a lot of really great team members who have done some things, a lot of good things, after they've left Sunday River, and some have stayed right here and done really great things as well. There's really three progressions that I would say in recruiting and growing team members, the first is a natural one. Nick, you're a great example of that. You start within a department and then you grow within that department. You finally take over the Vice President's job at a resort, but then from there, the next step is at corporate with Chief Marketing Officer. Another natural progression would be Arthur Tate. Arthur Tate is now one of our greatest lift mechanics. Arthur started out running lifts a number of years ago. And boy, it's a lot of fun. Watching people grow-- Cathy Witherspoon would be another wonderful example. Watching Cathy grow from Sunday River and Sugarloaf and HR here to being the Chief Human Resource Officer at Boyne is great. And it's just as rewarding as somebody that I've worked with for 17 years at Sunday River, and that's Becky Bean, she's the executive assistant here. And although her title has remained the same, watching her grow in her job and be probably the most knowledgeable person about Sunday River has been amazing. The second way people grow is by being identified as really strong leaders who have the ability to grow in other areas. Amanda Gallant was in marketing and sponsorships, something, Jeff, you can relate to. It was really clear. She had a passion for people and helping people. And now she's the Director of Human Resources for Sunday River. Meredith Harrop was in the ski school and did a great job running our kids' programs and the ski school. She is now the Vice President of Lodging at Sunday River. Our General Manager, Brian Heon just hired a new executive assistant that's going to be working with him and he came from the rental shop. And I think in those cases, Nick, what we've done is identified people who have strong leadership characteristics who are adaptable when grown in the business and then there's recruiting through other possible channels relationships. Brian Heon, I just mentioned, is our General Manager. Rick Kelly was an industry contact and Brian got recruited from Attitash to be here. Erica Dewhurst-- I started recruiting her the day she left Sunday River eight years ago, and went out west to live for a few years and we recruited her back here and next she's now the Vice President of Food and Beverage. So there's a number of those pieces through relationships that we're able to attract good people. And then it's just a matter of making sure that they're happy and enjoy what they do.

Michael Anselmi: 5:43

Well, that's a really great synopsis, Dana, and you understanding how important it is to identify people, nurture them and grow them. It's key to the company because we're not going to be here forever. So let's go back to when you started, did you imagine when you showed up for that first day at Sugarloaf, that you were going to be in this business for over three decades?

Dana Bullen: 6:03

I did. And this is going to sound arrogant, but back then I knew the day that I started in the rental shop, the first day I met Warren Cook that I wanted to be Warren. There was something about the way he handled himself. There was something about the way he moved at the resort that I knew that was a position that I wanted. And so I had an opportunity with Warren and Peter Weber and John Diller and other mentors throughout time to do many different things. I was a golf pro at Sugarloaf. I worked in the rental shop. I worked in retail. I worked in sales, I worked in marketing and then ultimately I went to work for a parent company, AFC at the time, doing sponsorships. All the time, what I was really doing was getting a background of many different aspects of a resort. So when the opportunity arose to be a General Manager, I had some background to be able to do that. You know, what's interesting, Michael, I think if you asked me back then when I got to Sunday River with Nick 16 years ago, I looked at it like my job was to have all the right answers. And so that was something that I thought was important. Then I met this guy named Jim Hunter. Jim Hunter really changed who we are as a company. Jim Hunter taught me that I didn't have to have all the right answers. I just needed to ask my team enough, right questions to get them the right answers. And he's had a monstrous influence over Sunday River and our entire company for a number of years. And I guess we give Bernie Friedrich, who you've had on this podcast before, credit for that, for introducing us to Jim.

Kari Roder: 7:41

I did not realize that Bernie introduced us to Jim.

Dana Bullen: 7:44

Yeah. Actually, Bernie was responsible for doing a book report at our General Managers meeting and he took a shortcut and instead of giving the book report, Bernie brought in the author. And that was the first day that we met Jim Hunter and Bernie was kind enough to allow Jim to start his program here at Sunday river.

Kari Roder: 8:04

Of course, Bernie brought in the author. Using that pull. That's awesome. We're actually going to be speaking to Bernie in a forthcoming podcast and we are definitely going to have to ask him about that now. So taking a little bit of a change of direction of conversation. So as we head into the'21/'22 season, what are some of the changes that you think will stick around as we enter into this post-pandemic world from things we learned over this past year?

Dana Bullen: 8:39

Kari, I hope the first thing is that we keep the bags out of our base lodges. Now I think we might have some small adaptation where we'll store them outside somehow, but what a wonderful experience not to have bags and be able to have a place to sit down and enjoy lunch. And that was a really cool experience. I think the other parts that we want to look at is our food and beverage-- it's ever evolving. Boy, the food's good, not only at Sunday River, but across all of our resorts. Big Sky's doing some amazing things, Boyne Highlands doing some amazing things. And I think our food and beverage continues to evolve as to what people are looking for, what they expect and what we're able to deliver. I think along with bags out of the base lodges, that's going to help us encourage tailgating. We fought it for a number of years, but wow, what a wonderful experience. It's like going to a Patriots game and being able to run back to the car and cook your lunch and experience it, and have some space. So I think that's good.

Kari Roder: 9:39

At Boyne Mountain, we actually had a beverage cart going through the parking lot. We were selling drinks in the lot.

Nick Lambert: 9:45

I love it.

Michael Anselmi: 9:46

Let's get the executive producer out there to do that, for the tailgate. We're going to get Brad Keen-- the Brad Keen tailgater. And he's going to do that. Let's do that.

Dana Bullen: 9:54

I've experienced several tailgates with Mr. Keen. Some were football games, some of them we've been out fishing and hunting, but I can promise you one thing, the man can cook. He knows what he's doing. And then Kari, I think on a more global level, maybe that hopefully when we come out of all this, that how we learned to be kind to each other, how we learn to help each other out. I hope that doesn't change. I hope we continue down that path.

Kari Roder: 10:21

I agree.

Michael Anselmi: 10:25

So running a ski resort takes up a boatload of time and I've heard you before say you get up at 3:00 AM and you pushed'till about six or seven, and then your clock expires. You've got the kids, your wife, dogs, but you have these hobbies, hunting, fishing, enjoying the outdoors. Give us some advice or color of how you've been able to manage that. And you know, you have those holidays where you're spending 16, 17 hours at the resort. Can you give us a little bit of that secret sauce? That little magic that's helped you keep it going?

Dana Bullen: 10:55

Well, first of all, Michael, I'm going to correct you before Nick does. I do get up at 3:00 AM and I think I work really hard when I'm here, but Nick would tell you that by 3:30, I'm absolutely useless.

Nick Lambert: 11:09

All done. All done.

Dana Bullen: 11:10

I think I had a really good perspective on understanding that the most important thing in my life was my family. And so when there was little league, I coached little league, when there was kids races, I always made sure to go to kids races. I encourage our team to do the same thing. You blink and a six year old is in college. And you need to always take time to spend with your family because if that piece of your life isn't where it needs to be, then the rest of it isn't balanced enough. So you can operate at a high level at work. So I think I looked at it that way, Michael.

Michael Anselmi: 11:48

Well, that's great.

Dana Bullen: 11:49

And I do love the outdoors, but you put me behind, put me behind a fly rod or a gun or a rifle or a golf club or a set of skis and I'm a happy man. That's truly where I'm the happiest is outdoors. And I think part of it is choosing an industry where you're able to do what you love. And if you're going to spend half your waking hours at work, you want to find something that really motivates you and get you happy.

Michael Anselmi: 12:18

Yeah. It's important. It's you don't want your job to be a job. You want it to be a hobby, right? You want to enjoy it and be a part of your passion. So completely there with you, Dana, completely there.

Dana Bullen: 12:29

34 years, not one day have I ever not been excited to come to work. Not one. Now there are days that are better than other days. I will give you that. But there hasn't been a day that I haven't enjoyed what I do. And I think that's infectious. People see that, and that helps them as well.

Nick Lambert: 12:48

So, Dana, let's mix this up a little bit, dive into the really personal stuff. Tell us something that people would be surprised to know about you.

Dana Bullen: 12:56

I love kids. I love dogs and there's a soft place in my heart for old people.

Michael Anselmi: 13:04

What's old?

Dana Bullen: 13:06

Wow, that changes Michael, as the years go on!

Nick Lambert: 13:08

It's a sliding scale.

Dana Bullen: 13:10

Bernie is old! Used to be 60, but as I creep up towards 60, you know that that's a moving target.

Nick Lambert: 13:18

So before we wrap this up, I'd like to talk about a few urban legends, maybe ski resort legends, if you will, to dispel fact from fiction. First, rumor has it that you once dragged a Ford pickup truck up the ski hill, loaded it with dynamite and blew it up. Fact or fiction?

Dana Bullen: 13:38

Fact. We had the Chevy Truck World Cup at Sugarloaf, and for opening ceremonies, I wanted to over deliver for Chevy. So I thought we could do nothing better than to take that truck up, and as you said, load it with dynamite, but not only dynamite, the explosives guys thought that grain dust would be a wonderful addition to that. And honestly, when they touched it off, we had no idea what was going to happen. That truck went 50 feet into the air and Crusher, who was the Vice President of Mountain Operations, cursed me for two weeks, picking up pieces of that truck all over that mountain.

Nick Lambert: 14:18

So when people talk about operations not trusting marketing, I'm going to say,"this is where that came from."

Dana Bullen: 14:25

That does. The gap jump, if you remember the border battles that we did, where we gave away classic cars, I got a classic ambulance and we created a gap jump, and we put the ambulance with the lights running and everything underneath the gap jump. The only challenge was as we made the gap too big, and folks had a challenge getting over the gap. That would be another one of those times, Mr. Lambert, that people weren't happy with us for operations.

Nick Lambert: 14:52

Okay. Here's here's one more. Last one I'm told that you once built the world's largest hot tub. Fact or fiction? And if true, how did you build it? And more importantly, what did that look like?

Kari Roder: 15:08

Does Stephen know this?

Nick Lambert: 15:08

He will now.

: 15:10

Fact. I built it at Sugarloaf. I took a 40 foot above ground pool, hired a furnace company that come in with two large furnaces and then hooked up a very large blower and made the world's largest hot tub, which during the day, a number of folks got to enjoy and it worked out extremely well as we got towards the evening. Yeah. We'll leave the story there.

Michael Anselmi: 15:38

Stop. Yep. Yep. Cathy Witherspoon is listening, let's stop. So our, kind of our ending, kind of, it's like a speed round. Final, final. So we're going to kind of use some questions we've used with previous interviewees and some new ones. So final, final ski run you'll ever ski and with who?

Dana Bullen: 16:01

It snowed four inches at Sunday River, the prevailing winds blowing and on the left-hand side of American Express, it's blown and dropped in eight inches, a really fluffy white powder. And I'm going to ski American Express four times.

Kari Roder: 16:15

There you go. So final, final ski resort other than yours,'cause you just used Sunday River as your example, that you will take a vacation at.

Dana Bullen: 16:23

Big Sky. From the first day I got there, I just can't believe the size of the place and how beautiful it is.

Michael Anselmi: 16:32

Final, final, happy hour. And with who, and remember who our Executive Producer is and how he likes seasonal drinks.

Dana Bullen: 16:43

I'll actually go rogue on this, then, Michael. I would say it would be in Napa Valley, a really good Cabernet with Roland.

Kari Roder: 16:52

Oh wow. I would want to join on that one. That's lovely. Final, final fishing trip you'll go on. And with who? Sounds also kind of morbid doesn't it?

Michael Anselmi: 17:08

No more Final, Final. Speed round, it shouldn't be morbid.

Kari Roder: 17:08

Okay, Speed round.

Dana Bullen: 17:11

Two days ago, I went out with my wife, my son, and my daughter, and we fished for striped bass and the Kennebec River. We caught 50 fish, but more than anything we were together and we were in the outdoors. It was awesome.

Kari Roder: 17:26

I love that.

Nick Lambert: 17:27

Dana, thanks for joining us.

: 17:29

Thank you guys. That was fun.

Michael Anselmi: 17:33

Well, that was a great interview. And what an incredible and fascinating career that Dana has had the stops along the way and all the people he's impacted. I mean, amazing.

Nick Lambert: 17:45

Michael, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to blow up a pickup, Dana is your guy.

Michael Anselmi: 17:51

He is.

Nick Lambert: 17:51

He's your guy. But no, all kidding aside, Dana is a great guy. I've been very fortunate that I've been able to work with him for a long time in my career here at Sunday River and with Boyne. You know, he really cares about our company and cares about our team also.

Kari Roder: 18:07

It's so inspiring to hear the leaders in our company, talk about developing great people, because even, you know, as a marketing director here at Boyne Mountain, it is probably my favorite part of my job is growing the people on my team and watching them grow in their role, take on more, learn more and move up. It's just a cool concept that is embraced by Boyne. And I really appreciate it.

Michael Anselmi: 18:36

Impact on others, which inevitably has an impact on the company.

Nick Lambert: 18:40

It's cultural, right? It's a Boyne Basic. It's part of the flywheel. It's what we do here.

Kari Roder: 18:46

Now it's time for my favorite part of our Lift podcast, it's the employee of the month. You can nominate an employee of the month by simply emailing us at podcast@boyneresorts.com. And they not only will get mentioned in an episode of The Lift, but we'll also send them a$50 Boyne gift card. This month, our nomination comes from Boyne Highlands from Amanda Bomers who was also an employee of the month on our podcast. So she obviously felt compelled to nominate someone on her team. And we want to congratulate Bree Borowicz-Horn. Bree has been a part of the Boyne Highlands HR team and Amanda just can't say enough kind things about her because Bree is so kind and she always shines at the resort in the good times and the bad times, always shows up with a positive attitude and really, you know, that's what it's all about. Attitude is everything. During the payroll rebuild, she was assigned to help the Michigan team get back up and going this past November and, you know, and miss all of that hard work she was doing, you know, struggling on her personal life as well as her father passed away from COVID. Can't send enough condolences to her. I can't imagine working through that and I'm sure part of going to work probably was therapeutic for her, but she never missed a beat. Amanda said she was amazing through the whole thing. She's been there for three years and yeah, just her role at the resort has made a huge difference. She typically works with the international students. I know a lot of our resorts have international students that come every year. Well, Bree is the one that, you know, is helping these students get acclimated to Michigan, to figuring out, you know, their new work roles, working through any language barriers. In fact, most of the students ended up calling her mom. So if that doesn't speak volumes, I don't know what does, but on top of that, she is a mom. She's got two boys of her own working through, you know, some of their adversities, I guess you could say, her oldest having autism, her other son suffers from epilepsy, but she takes what she learns at home and applies it at work, which I just think is amazing to not only work through that on a personal front, but then bring it to work and help other people. They've hired two individuals at Boyne Highlands with autism and on their first day, week, you know, Bree is the one that's building a plan for them working with them, working with their manager and really just setting everybody up for success regardless of their situation. So Amanda couldn't say enough, nice things. Bree is truly the rock of their HR team, an amazing ally, amazing friend and the world needs more Brees in it. And we couldn't agree more. So I think it fits with our, with our whole topic this month, talking about, you know, developing great people. It's one of our Boyne Basics and here is somebody who takes that very seriously is developing great people every day in all different sorts of ways at, at work. And it's part of her job. And I just want to send out a big, huge congratulations to Bree. Thank you for everything that you do and thank you to Amanda for nominating a team member of the month. Now remember it's super easy to do. All you have to do is email us podcast@boyneresorts.com and tell us who you think should be the winner next month. That wraps up another fantastic episode. We've got five under our belt now you guys. Like, we're getting, like, professional.

Nick Lambert: 22:57

I feel like we're getting worse every time.

Kari Roder: 23:00

No way. Well, I think we have a lot to look forward to in episode six, I heard John McGregor might be on

Nick Lambert: 23:08

The elusive John McGregor. We'll see, we'll see. It's a big-- that's a big job to recruit him. Michael. I think you're tackling that one.

Michael Anselmi: 23:17

Well, I'm going to try to track him down. I have some ideas, some methods. I'm not really willing to share them right now because I don't want him to think to look, you know, know where I'm coming from, but that's the hope. All right, can't wait guys. Until next time.

Transcript for Episode 4

Jared Winkler: 0:00

Hi there. This is Jared Winkler, Director of Marketing at Brighton Resort in sunny Salt Lake City, Utah. And I'm a snowboarder. We're excited to have the Utah Jazz be the best team in the NBA this year. Hopefully you enjoy the playoffs this year, but right now, enjoy episode four of The Lift, the Boyne Team Member podcast, and also in case you're not a jazz fan, too bad. They're going to win it all. Go Jazz!

Nick Lambert: 0:21

Welcome to episode four of the Boyne Team Member podcast. My name's Nick Lambert. I'm here with Michael Anselmi and Kari Roder. Guys, this month, we're bringing back the big boss, Stephen Kircher, president and CEO of Boyne Resorts. Michael, what are we going to talk about?

Michael Anselmi: 0:36

We're going to get a little bit of an overview on the ForeverProject. Stephen sat down with us and he laid down his goals for 2030, and just all these different things I didn't know about. Sometimes I'm out to lunch, but what can you do? And then we kind of closed with a review of this crazy season. We call it the 2021 winter ski season.

Kari Roder: 0:56

I had a good time. It was a good season. We also get to talk to the lifts team member of the month: Carolyn Farrugia. She's the director of design with the Boyne design group, and we have a super unique conversation. We're going to learn about how all the magic happens behind all these cool projects Boyne has in store for us. Sounds fun, guys. Let's do it.

Michael Anselmi: 1:21

Welcome back Stephen K ircher, Boyne Resorts President and CEO. Great to have you back, Stephen. Now that the last resort has stopped spinning lifts. Tell us how things felt this season from your seat.

Stephen Kircher: 1:31

Well, it was a relief, right? I think for all of us that it ended up so much better than any of us had feared. We all went into this preparing for the worst and it ended up the best case scenario overall for the company that we would have imagined. So pretty excited about that for the team, for the resorts, the company, and our continued momentum that we're creating. And it's really an amazing accomplishment. The collaboration with the industry certainly was a big part of that. And the collaboration internally was a big part of that. It's a testimony to a lot of hard work and effort and forward-thinking and coordinating. And obviously the coordination with our local and state health officials and making sure that we were able to navigate this. And we're really happy to say that we've had, I think one COVID positive at the workplace in out of 12,000 people. And I think out of 600 COVID positives, we had one in the workplace that we can identify. So pretty amazing safe work environment. And we don't believe there was any issues across our network in terms of us contributing to the problem this past six months. So we're pretty excited

Kari Roder: 2:33

From season end to sustainability. So most of us in the ski industry are highly aware of how climate and now pandemics affect our business. In Michigan, this season we only saw 70 inches of snow and sure weather patterns shift. We were just north of some serious snowfall, but we know there's more that we can do as humans. But we also know that as Boyne Resorts. We can do more. And I think that's what brings us to the introduction of ForeverProject. Can you tell us: what is ForeverProject?

Stephen Kircher: 3:09

Well, it's a perfect segue. And I think the interesting corollary to the COVID situation and climate change is the fact that you can predict outcomes. People were predicting the outcomes that we had with COVID early on, and you can model out the future when you understand the science behind it. And I think in fast paced motion, we saw a pandemic rollout across our country, state and the world, and still is happening. And if you don't understand the science and you don't react to the science that is out in front of you, you're going to end up in a bad situation. And you can see that with the COVID outcomes when people didn't either believe it was happening or didn't do the things necessary to mitigate it. And obviously there's a lot of politics involved in that, but the climate change issue is really a slower moving version of COVID-19. And I think what has happened at least internally with our leadership team and within the industry is an acute awareness that the science is real, the science is indicating a long-term problem. That's actually maybe decadal in the making within a few decades, we're going to start seeing significantly more impact from this. And if we don't address it and bend the curve quickly, it's going to get out of control. It will be the train that we can't stop. And that's why the call to action that the industry has had and why we had Boyne Resorts feel it's so important for us to get on this and get aggressive and have the 2030 deadline, because it's really 8 to 10 to 15 years that we've got to address this, or it's going to really be out of our control. The science points to a chain reaction that could occur. That is quite scary for our kids and grandkids. And I don't want to have blood on my hands any more than we already have. And I think it's important that every one of our team members understands the urgency of it and why we think it's important. And the ForeverProject is a culmination in some of that thought, it really focuses on the net carbon by 2030 goal. And why we've galvanized the approach to get to that date and try to be a leader and not a follower in this endeavor.

Nick Lambert: 5:20

So, Stephen, tell us a little bit more about the background. What really got this going right now, who were, what initiated the creation of the forever project at this point in time?

Stephen Kircher: 5:29

There's been a number of folks internally. Julie Ard would be a canary in the coal mine, I guess, we've obviously I'm on the board of NSA. So I'm listening to the conversations at the industry level and understanding, obviously those discussions. I've personally gotten much more up to speed on the science. And we had a gentlemen, uh, Luke Carlin, I think his last name, um, I may be messing up his last name, but he came and spoke to our senior team in June of 2019 and really spoke to these issues and really got us talking about, seriously, the need to engage more. So there was that meeting, the senior leadership, we all agreed. This was important. We also then committed to being involved heavily in Mountain Towns 2030 which is a group that got together to really discuss these issues in terms of resorts and mountain towns. And at that event, the four big ski companies came together and spoke and we had some amazing speakers. Paul Hawkin was there, who wrote the book Drawdown, which has a number of very actionable tactics to address climate change. So we really had an industry meeting that galvanized our thinking. We brought along CMS energy as our guest, and we were already talking to them about some initiatives. And at that meeting, we really started to galvanize our collaboration with CMS energy around how could we address our carbon footprint on the electrical side. And we committed that time coming out of that meeting to a net zero by 2030 initiative, a little bit like going to the moon. We didn't know when we announced Kennedy said, let's go to the moon and back safely, we didn't know how we're going to do it, but we figured it out. And to some degree, this planet hasn't figured out how to get there. But if you don't set goals, you're never going to achieve quick turnaround and implementation. So we really felt it was important to set a goal. It was aggressive and then set in motion steps focused on that to get after it. So we were at Mountain Town 2030, and there was a great deal of conversation, collaboration, and commitments made around the 2030 goal. And we came out of that really with a focus on creating a galvanizing concept for the company and ForeverProject was an outgrowth of that. And it really is the umbrella effort for Boyne Resorts that embraces that core concept and carbon and methane. The two key ingredients to driving climate change is what we're focused on that the primary objective of ForeverProject. And obviously there's other aspects of it that we're going to address, but that's the main focus. How do we address our carbon footprint and reduce it to net zero and then hopefully move it beyond that.

Kari Roder: 8:17

So you mentioned CMS and here in Michigan, I've had the opportunity to get to know one of the reps from CMS and starting to connect with them and work on a project here at Boyne Mountain. And I'm just curious, how has that relationship developed? They're a great group of people that really seem to have this dialed. Where do you see it going?

Stephen Kircher: 8:39

Well, ironically, we've had a long, long relationship with CMS energy and it goes back to in 1952, my father bought a hydro plant from them in Boyne Falls, which is right near Boyne Mountain where the family property is. And that hydro plant was reactivated the eighties. And we have been working with them on producing sustainable power since the eighties on that original hydro plant that they actually used to own. And they've been our power provider. They also were our partners in the development of Bay Harbor, which was the reclamation of a incredibly devastating environmental situation. And they spent hundreds of millions of dollars themselves in cleaning up Bay Harbor. They are probably the biggest positive contributor to cleaning up the Great Lakes and reducing mercury emissions into the Great Lakes. So CMS has had just an amazing history as a utility company in being progressive and proactive. They've got that huge hydro facility down in mid-state Michigan, where they pump up water using nuclear power during the evenings. So they've been creative for many decades and we've been collaborating in that with them in our Michigan footprint for a long time. And Patty Poppy, who was the past CEO has embraced the conversion to renewables. She has been very proactive and pushing CMS to reduce their reliance on coal. And the current CEO is doing same carrying right in her footsteps. So they began collaborating with us and they've got these outreach programs with their suppliers and their customers and helping us mark a path towards a more sustainable future. And they came to us with a program. They are building a facility in Texas, a wind farm that we are participating in. And we were able to enter into an arrangement where we were buying credits to offset all of our electrical energy coast to coast from Vancouver to Maine, including Michigan. So it was a huge win to be able to move the needle so quickly on the electrical side in year one of the ForeverProject. So that's the first step. The second step is obviously they're doing a pilot program with us that you probably were mentioning Kari at Boyne Mountain with the new solar array that will produce enough power to power all of the homes and condominiums that are on property on an annual basis. So it's a pilot program we'd like to roll out elsewhere once we get that dialed in, but they're very interested in us rolling that technology out. And it's behind the grid technology that allows us to do that on property and create sustainable energy onsite.

Michael Anselmi: 11:16

Stephen, let's talk about up to 2030. What is the immediate plan for hitting that deadline and to get to a net zero carbon footprint?

Stephen Kircher: 11:25

Well, we made a huge 70% of our carbon footprint I believe was in the electrical side. So, I mean, we're obviously a huge electrical user with snowmaking and lifts. So we took a huge bite out of this way ahead of schedule. I didn't expect to be at this point until probably 2027, 2028. And we were able to move the needle on the electrical side in a very quick order, which is a positive, but obviously the next steps are, you know, continue to reduce our electrical energy, use it to be more efficient, whether it's to continue to invest in the snowmaking technology to lower our usage and, or add more onsite renewables so that we can have a balanced approach in the net zero effort. On the propane and natural gas side, I think we need to look at obviously continued conversion of our facilities to electric, which we are doing all of our new boilers are going electric versus being run on propane or natural gas. So we're making conversions as we go. We're looking at obviously electrification of our fleets, vehicle fleets, as soon as GM and others have a product that matches up. So we'll quickly be moving many things from fossil fuels to sustainable electric. But short of that, you're obviously going to have a gap that you can't always close. So we're definitely looking at offsets for our carbon footprint, for the other scenarios of fossil fuel use. And in the end, a huge contributor to the issue is wasted food and the whole supply chain on the food side. So we got to get after that. And I know we have a lot of composting efforts underway. We're going to continue to work with different suppliers and providers to improve that in the various footprints that we do business. Recycling certainly has been a focus for more than a decade. We've been focusing on recycling that needs to continue to be elevated in priority because there is a carbon implication to the recycling. Again, I'd like to just underscore that carbon and methane are the two focuses. I don't want to, I hate to say waste time and money on things that do not address the immediate issue of climate change and those two issues with the two gases. So that's going to be our focus. We have limited resources, limited time, limited effort, and we're going to focus on that. There's other things we should be doing, but those are the priorities.

Nick Lambert: 13:43

So admittedly, at least within our industry in a few ways, we're a bit late to the game, at least for major sustainability initiatives. What are your thoughts on that given Boyne's history of innovation and leadership?

Stephen Kircher: 13:56

Well, it's interesting. I spoke at that Mountain Town 2030, and we have definitely been the quiet company, if you will, I don't know who was that, who marketed the quiet company, but we were the quiet company in this. We always were doing things behind the scenes. I think we just felt it wasn't something we wanted to be out in front on, and we wanted to not be the lead advocate, I think. And that was certainly driven by myself as much as anybody. And we have done so much for the reduction of power use. For example, Nick, when we came out east to your resorts, we reduced 30 million kilowatts of power use since 2007, making snow out there, a massive amount of electric reduction by implementing high efficiency technology, to the Boyne Low-E or the HKD and other technologies. So we've been really focused on conservation and energy reduction. Obviously there's a cost implication of that, but it was also wasn't direct related to carbon, but it was reducing our carbon footprint, but we weren't talking about it. We were doing a lot of things, like I said, the hydro plant, since the eighties, we've been producing 10% of our power point mountain through the hydro plant. Since the eighties, we never talked about it. We planted enough trees in Michigan to replace all the trees we've cut down on all the ski slopes that we ever cut in history of 73 years. So we never talked about that. We'd got huge stands of mature trees now that are consuming a lot of CO2, and that didn't exist when we started in the forties and fifties. So we've been doing things all along that are aligned with this. We just didn't talk about it. So we're late to the game, being proactive and an advocate. I would say we're probably not late to the game in actually walking the talk forever. My dad was a conservationist, if you will. And preserving forests and tree stands and rivers and a naturalist, you know, he knew every flower name, probably in both states of Montana and Michigan. So he's kind of a Teddy Roosevelt of conservation kind of people he hunted and fished, but he loved the outdoors and loved to protect it whenever possible. So we've had that in our DNA, just in a different way. And I think obviously the science points to the urgency, the science points to the need to focus and set goals and be engaged. And that's why we're stepping out and being more aggressive on it.

Kari Roder: 16:13

So you mentioned carbon and methane as the core focus that you've identified. Seems like a good way for the resorts, really to think of those two- carbon methane, and that helps them decide what action to take now. Is there anything more that you can elaborate on that?

Stephen Kircher: 16:32

I think it's important everybody listening to this continues to do their own research and understand more and we need to do more education internally, but also what they're doing in their own lives. I think there's an aspect of this. When you think about how your life is being lived and what you do every day and how you're impacting those two items, what kind of car you drive? You can talk about what temperature you set your thermostats out of your home. Are you buying offsets- carbon offsets- with electric at home? What are you doing personally? And I think it's important that everybody understands that those are the key two drivers that we've got to bend the curve on. If we don't bend the curve quickly enough, we're going to have issues that are going to be out of our control in the coming decades. So it's something that at work that people, as they make decisions and are involved in decision-making, they should think of those things first. And how are we affecting the outcomes with those two gases? Again, what type of tomatoes, we buy, where we're buying them from? How are they being grown, finding out what our supply chain is doing to get the products to us. It goes in a lot of different quadrants and impossible, obviously to do it all at once. And we've got to stay in business. We gotta be able to economically be viable to be able to do the reinvestments in these initiatives to survive both economically and environmentally. So it's a balance obviously, and it's a journey that we're going to have to take. The fact that we're able to move the needle quickly on some of these creative collaborations, I think is another signal to our teams. What other collaborative efforts can we engage in to move the needle and be thinking about collaboration with different suppliers and different providers to move the needle for us and move the needle for the communities?

Michael Anselmi: 18:16

Well, collaboration is a key aspect. I know that you drive to all of us, Stephen, and we try to do it as much as we can and this is just another layer that I look forward to working on. It feels like a great time to be part of the Boyne team so much is going on. We got through this together this last six months year, and we have so many great projects going on specifically the ForeverProject, but what else do our team members have to be excited about in the summer and start thinking about next winter as well?

Stephen Kircher: 18:40

I think that's a good segue because we have a lot of projects going on and we have a number of new buildings. We have winter renovations going on. I mentioned the fact that we're converting from gas to electric, all these major renovations that we're on, whether it's in Michigan or Montana, all the conversions, whenever we can, we're moving to an electric sourced heat and cooling system. And, you know, we consume so much propane, so much natural gas right now in those systems by converting to electric, we're moving the needle quickly. So as we're investing in upgrading the experience for our guests, we're also moving the ball down the field with the ForeverProject. And we've got other new build projects that are all looking at lead certification. So when we're looking at designing buildings for the long-term, how are they going to impact the energy consumption and how green are they? So we're definitely focused on new projects, having a focus in that regard and the fact that we came out of this pandemic and had a good winter, had a good year, actually a record year, ultimately, being able to support a refinance that just happened, which is going to further allow us to accelerate and focus on our ten-year plans, which every resort has an exciting future ahead. But if we can do it in a lock step between the ForeverProject goals and obviously taking advantage of just tremendous opportunities of organic growth and creating these new and fun experiences, we're about to announce several that are going to be, I think, really game changing for some of the resorts in the coming months. So it is an exciting time to be part of this. I've never been more excited personally. I feel like we're a little unbridled now, or, uh, you know, I felt a little handicapped. Like my arm was behind my back for the last 10 or 15 years, right. We we've been kind of punching with one arm for a little bit, but we're healthy, we're strong and we're excited. And we got great people on our teams that are excited and more and more better team members coming on board every day. And I think it's going to really create more momentum as we go forward. And it is going to be an interesting decade. I think I'd mentioned the last podcast. This is going to be the decade to remember probably our golden decade, at least in the first 80 years. So it is exciting.

Nick Lambert: 20:53

Stephen, thanks for taking the time to join us. I agree. It's a really exciting time. And we appreciate you telling us a little bit more about all this.

Stephen Kircher: 21:01

You bet. Thank you for having me on Nick.

Kari Roder: 21:06

Making our way around Boyne Resorts, we have another nomination for an employee of the month for March, and it is Carolyn Urrutia. She is the Director of Design for all of Boyne Resorts. And I got a chance to talk with her last week. So let's check it out. On the line with me, I have Carolyn Farrugia. She is our Director of Boyne Design for all of Boyne Resorts. She is one of our winners of the$50 Boyne Country Sports gift cards for the month of March as our employee of the month. So welcome Carolyn, thank you for joining me today.

Carolyn Farrugia: 21:39

Oh, thank you for having me. This was so exciting.

Kari Roder: 21:41

Yeah. Congratulations. Did you even know this was really a lucrative thing that you could win?

Carolyn Farrugia: 21:47

No! Surprise, surprise.

Kari Roder: 21:48

I know, it's new, right? So we're just kicking this off and it's so cool to see people reach out to us. You can nominate someone simply by emailing us at podcast@boyneresorts.com. And that is exactly how Carolyn was nominated for this award. Carolyn, we just want to learn a little bit more about what you do. Can you describe your role as Director of Design?

Carolyn Farrugia: 22:13

We like to look at each environment as a distinct entity. And what we do is understand the needs for the resort operations and guests and design interiors that people take away with them. So I always kind of sit back and think, what is somebody going to remember out of this space? What is going to create a truly unique experience for guests? And that's what we do. So we come together and we think of a concept, a design concept, and we think of how it's going to make people feel, how people are going to use it, is it a loud space? Is it a quiet space? And we go from there. So we look at everything obviously from colors and materials, but we also get down and dirty into construction details and understanding all of the mechanicals and the electricals behind what happens in the space. So that's kind of it in a nutshell.

Kari Roder: 23:09

One of those things I think people don't realize happens behind the scenes, especially internally, a Boyne entity of interior design, but what a cool part of our business. You think about fixer-upper and all of those shows out there I'm like, this would be such a cool show to totally highlight your team. Or is that just weird to you?

Carolyn Farrugia: 23:32

No, I think that because of HGTV, everybody has become more aware of design in a way, but the TV shows also simplify things, right. And there is a lot of work that behind making something beautiful and it doesn't just take two weeks to do it. So that's the interesting part behind it all is that as with probably every job and position, there is a lot more thought and work and coordination that goes behind things versus what people ultimately see and experience.

Kari Roder: 24:03

Do you have a favorite project that you're working on right now?

Carolyn Farrugia: 24:06

You know what? I love them all. They all come with a different set of expectations and problems that we work through and hurdles that we jump over. Probably people don't even understand that we have our finger in everything. So it's retail, it's lodging, it's food and beverage. It is corporate behind the scenes spaces. So it's a lot of everything. And I think that that's what makes it so exciting and different and new every day, I was telling somebody the other day that I think I probably touched 50 different projects within the course of a day, talking about different parts and pieces of what was happening with different things. And my history has always been on the consultant side of design and now being part of ownership design, it comes with a whole new set of challenges. And you, as a designer, there are a lot of other things. I think that we have our finger on now, everything from talking to food and beverage about different serveware and plates and kind of experiences that they have. And then you think about the branding piece. And then you think about the OS&E, which is all the operating supplies and equipment. So how do all of those little things add to the complete environment that we're designing and that we're building to add that piece of spark or that experience that people can take away with them. So maybe it's a custom glassware or a pencil and paper, you know, that speaks not only to the branding message, but also to the identity that we've created as an interior.

Kari Roder: 25:54

I just can't imagine the time and the energy that your team puts into all of those projects.

Carolyn Farrugia: 26:03

It's crazy, right? And I could not have a better team. It's totally them. They are the heartbeat behind this. You know, I just kind of look at things and make sure they're thinking about ideas in 3d, right? I'm asking the questions, they're putting the package together. And without them, we wouldn't be anywhere. And that goes from not only the designer, that goes to the consultants that we work with and procurement, we have internal procurement. Accounting, which they do all the ordering. So you can start a project design. And that's our contractors, too. We all work together to create this project that looks seamless in the end, and can't have one without the other. That's for sure.

Kari Roder: 26:46

Your team definitely values your leadership. And that is exactly why we're recognizing you today because they brought that to our attention. How long have you been with Boyne Resorts?

Carolyn Farrugia: 26:56

I'm nearing six years now. Almost the six year anniversary. So, yeah. And the crazy thing behind all that is, I didn't know that Boyne had a design department either. I grew up in Petoskey. I lived in Chicago for a really long time, always doing hospitality design. And I was looking to get back to Michigan to be closer to family and nieces and nephews. And what does that kind of look like? And several of my friends had noticed a posting for a designer for Boyne. I was like, what is that all about? So looked into it and man, all the stars aligned because I could not ask for a better position and the flexibility that the company offers in autonomy to do what we do, and in the most open and honest way. So it's been a fun and thrilling ride so far.

Kari Roder: 27:50

Thank you so much for sharing this with us today. I think you've probably opened a lot of other people's eyes to the fact that we have a design group that works for Boyne and puts all these pieces together. And it shows in our every day life at work and in our customer reviews and everything else, it touches every piece of what all of us do for Boyne Resorts. So thank you to Carolyn. If you want to nominate someone to be an employee of the month with the Boyne employee podcast, feel free to email us at podcast@boyneresorts.com. That was super fun. I'm so glad I got to talk to Carolyn and learn about all the different steps they have to take to complete all of these really cool projects that we have going on. If you want to nominate somebody to be the lift team member of the month, all you have to do is give us an email at podcast@boyneresorts.com. And when we select that winner, they win a$50 gift card to Boyne Country Sports.

Michael Anselmi: 28:52

Can I submit my own name for this or not?

Nick Lambert: 28:56

No, we've been over this, we've talked about this.

Michael Anselmi: 28:59

What a great podcast, Stephen laying down the gauntlet with what is to come with the ForeverProject. A lot of things to look forward to and as well be part of, you've got to be part of the change and it's going to be a fun ride. Nick, what do you have for us?

Nick Lambert: 29:12

That's it guys. I would like to lastly thank Executive Producer, Brad Keen of Boyne Food and Beverage as the financial backing of this endeavor-- he bought microphones. I think that's probably it, but Executive Producer. He is. Thanks Brad. Thanks everybody for listening. We'll see you next time.

Transcript for Episode 3

Announcer: 0:02

Saddle up, snow farmers. This is the Boyne Employee podcast.

Nick Lambert: 0:07

Welcome to episode 3 of the Boyne Team Member podcast. My name's Nick Lambert. I'm here with Michael Anselmi and Kari Roder. Guys, what do we have in store today?

Michael Anselmi: 0:16

Today we're going to interview Barb Rooney, our Senior Vice President of Lodging, Owner Services, and Spa, and walk through where she came from, how she got to where she is, as well as walk through all these projects we see going up around the portfolio with remodeled hotels, et cetera. But yeah. What else do we have Kari?

Kari Roder: 0:33

Well, I thought you were going to talk about Nick's promotion. You forgot to mention that.

Michael Anselmi: 0:37

Well, congrats Nick.

Nick Lambert: 0:38

Yeah, I don't see that on the agenda.

Kari Roder: 0:40

Oh, whoops. Nick's the boss now. Just wanted to let everybody know.

Michael Anselmi: 0:46

We went from about worried Cathy Witherspoon, now we have Cathy and Nick looking over us. So... just keep it level.

Kari Roder: 0:54

I know. We've got a lot to talk about today. Barb Rooney, as Michael just mentioned, but we're also going to learn about our team member of the month. So, excited to share that interview with all of you. I will leave it a surprise as to who it is, but first we're going to throw it to Kevin Bell. Kevin is the Director of Marketing- well, he's actually the Vice President of Marketing- at Loon Mountain, and he sat down with Jeff Martel, who was a patrol director, not just any patrol director: he's been doing it for 45 years. He recently stepped down to retire and they're honoring him with the new walking boss award. We have no idea what that means, but we're going to throw it to Kevin to figure it out.

Kevin Bell: 1:38

Thanks, Kari. My name is Kevin Bell and I'm the Vice President of Marketing at Loon Mountain Resort here in Lincoln, New Hampshire. And I am thrilled to be sitting down at a field house in the center of Lincoln, about to speak to our first Boyne Employee of the Month. When I started at Loon back in 2005, I started working in the terrain parks and back then, there was a time when the parks department was a little rough around the edges. And I remember the arrogance that our parks crew really had, which now I really attribute to being young, but that arrogance didn't help our relationship with many departments at Loon. And in particular, that was ski patrol. And why that's so important right now because I flashed forward to where I'm sitting. Here I am with a National Ski Patrol, distinguished service award winner, and a man who is respected both locally at Loon in the community and nationally for his commitment to safety and service. And one who has had to put up with countless arrogant punks like myself for decades. So I'm privileged to be sitting here about to speak with Jeff Martel.

Jeff Martel: 2:42

Thank you, Kevin.

Kevin Bell: 2:46

Jeff, you recently stepped down from the ski patrol director at Loon at the beginning of the season. Tell me about that decision and where it came from.

Jeff Martel: 2:55

I've been at Loon, actually, I've been patrolling for 50 years, and this would be my 48th year at Loon. Because of the changes that I foreseen as far as the COVID issues, I realized that a younger guy with better technology and as far as communication and computers and things like that, and not so old school set in their ways, would be an asset. And the person who took my place, Mark Abend, has done an incredible job. His communication skills are excellent. I feel like I've left it in good hands.

Kevin Bell: 3:37

So you've been at Loon for 47 years. Is that what you told me earlier?

Jeff Martel: 3:43

Yeah, this is my 48th year.

Kevin Bell: 3:48

Take us back to- what was Loon like and what was the ski vibe? Not only locally, but globally. Why was it so great to be skiing?

Jeff Martel: 4:00

It's funny, I grew up in Gorham, New Hampshire, which-- it was very close to Wild Cat, and that was kind of my mountain for a while. I moved from there as a ski instructor, went out west, got my advanced first aid card and decided to try ski patrol. And I came back, worked at Mittersill for one winter and Bill Dempsey said,"I want to go back to Loon." He was the patrol director-- and,"you want to come with me?" So I came to Loon, and Pete Cloud was the patrol director at Loon. Cloudy was his nickname. It was a different field, right from the start. It just had that'you want to be here' feel. And it was smaller at the time, not as small as Mittersill, but you know, they had the main mountain and East Basin and that was it. There was no North Peak, there was no West Basin and there was no South Peak at that time. And skiing was a little different because there wasn't all the perfect manmade snow that we get today. We skied on longer skis. I think my shortest pair of skis then was a 207. Now I ski on a 173. Who would have ever thought. It was just the nice spot. You know, it was a nice feel. And it reminded me of my hometown, surrounded by mountains. Skiing just seemed'skiing,' period. It was just skiing. It was definitely a family ski area.

Kevin Bell: 5:37

I was going through some old brochures the other day and it was called Medicare Mountain. Do you remember that?

Jeff Martel: 5:47

I always thought that was Bretton Woods. I never looked at it that way. I, you know, to be honest with me, I never heard that term. I mean, I'm kind of old and maybe I forgot things, but, or I tuned it out. I'll tell you, Angel Street, Big Dipper, and Triple Trouble are very challenging. And in those days they never got groomed. You got what you got. It would be very hard for me to think that anybody would stamp Medicaid, Medicare, or whatever mountain on that particular part of.

Kevin Bell: 6:17

So what was the vibe of the skier that skied at Loon at that time?

Jeff Martel: 6:23

I think everybody basically came with wanting to have fun. I know the patrol at that time interacted quite a bit with the ski school, which we really don't do now. I mean, we do in a way, but not like we did then. We didn't meet up at the lodge at Loon at the end of the day. And, you know, have a beer together, things like that. It was smaller. And I think it was looser as far as the feel of the area it got full. I mean, we used to have lift lines that went from the Gondola or all the way up Lower Picket Rock, because there wasn't as much terrain of course, as there is today.

Kevin Bell: 7:04

You started as a patroller and spent decades there. What has kept you there? 47, 48 years?

Jeff Martel: 7:11

Well, I moved to Lincoln. I actually, I lived in Woodstock. Like I said earlier, it felt special to me. I always liked and loved my job as a patroller. It's just one of those jobs that suddenly becomes, either you have a passion for it and it becomes part of you, or you don't. And those who don't actually don't continue to patrol. I just wanted to be here. And I saw a potential in the mountain. It was a nice place to work. I had a certain friendliness. I met good people here, so it was easy for me to stay.

Kevin Bell: 7:45

What is that bond between patrollers that is very evident. Can you talk about that bond?

Jeff Martel: 7:52

I think it's similar to a lot of rescue operations whether fire department or EMT, you work together as a team. I don't know... your personalities, a lot of strong personalities, and it's just what you do. You know, the times when you're out on the hill and you're just doing the morning sweeps and just doing the things that need to be done, to keep them out and safe, or if you're dealing with an incident with an injured person and you've always got each other's backs, it's a trust. You train together, you work together, and you learn almost without even talking. Communicating sometimes what to do when you're on an incident, you just do what needs to be done. And it's that camaraderie that just doesn't go away. You know, it actually becomes a family.

Kevin Bell: 8:49

Thank you again, Jeff Martel for being on Lift, the Boyne Team Member podcast. In addition, you are employee of the month by the Loon team. So you will be receiving a$50 gift card to Boyne Country Sports to get something great to use in your beautiful backyard. As I said earlier, we were just thrilled to have you as part of the team for so long and just a real honor to sit down and talk to you. So thank you very much, Jeff Martel.

Jeff Martel: 9:15

Thank you, Kevin. Appreciate it.

Kari Roder: 9:17

Wow, Kevin, thank you so much for that interview. It was so fun to learn about somebody on the safety side.

Nick Lambert: 9:25

I thought that was great to hear Jeff's story and yeah. Kevin, watch out, man. You do a good job on this. We're going to keep asking you to help. So be careful.

Michael Anselmi: 9:31

I might retire.

Nick Lambert: 9:33

All right, guys, next, we're going to go to one of our favorite segments that we like to call,"Get to know an SVP." We're speaking with Barb Rooney, and we're going to get stories from over three decades that she has spent with Boyne.

Kari Roder: 9:49

We're so excited today to be sitting down with Barb Rooney. She's the Senior Vice- President of Lodging, Spa, and Owner Services for Boyne Resorts, and she's joining us from Big Sky. We're just super stoked to be talking to her and learn more about all of the things she's been working on. Big projects from the Huntley lodge to Boyne Highlands, Boyne Mountain and beyond far. Thank you so much for joining us today.

Barb Rooney: 10:15

Thank you. Thanks for having me! I'm excited.

Kari Roder: 10:18

So one of the first things that we will want to know is how long have you been with Boyne Resorts?

Barb Rooney: 10:23

So I don't mean to derail this, but before we go down this road, I would love to get something off my chest if that's okay with you, Kari.

Kari Roder: 10:31

Sure.

Barb Rooney: 10:32

So we all know this right a year ago, no one could have ever predicted what was in front of us, right. And between the virus and then add to that computer breach, nothing was normal and we couldn't have trained for the past year in any way. And I just want to give the most heartfelt thank you that I possibly can to all of our frontline team members, supervisors, managers, the housekeepers, the bellman, the front desk, bartenders servers, ski patrol. I mean, you could go on and on and on, and they're really the ones making it happen and doing the heavy lifting. And I've been thinking about this a lot. So it was kind of fun to be able to have this opportunity, to, to be able to say thank you to the heroes that are really taking care of our thousands of guests, this ski season. We couldn't have done it without them. So thank you.

Kari Roder: 11:15

Absolutely. Okay. Now we'll dive into learning more about you, Barb. How long have you been with Boyne Resorts?

Barb Rooney: 11:21

I have been with Boyne for 32-- a little over 32 years.

Kari Roder: 11:26

32 years. Okay. So where exactly did you get started?

Barb Rooney: 11:34

Hmm, that was 10, Kari. Right? Well, I started in Big Sky, right? And I am based at Big Sky, but I started in the summer of 1989 during my college years, and in the mornings I would work and the accounting office and the Huntley Lodge. And it was actually when Shoshone was just being thought about, and I was a cash counter in the morning. So I'd count the cash in the mornings and I'd write it on a piece of white paper and fax it over to Michigan and then we'd hand it off to somebody and they'd run it down to the one bank that we had in Big Sky. And in the evenings and afternoons, I worked as a server and a very novice bartender in Chet's Bar. And then I would pick up shifts as the beer cart girl at the golf course. So I worked those jobs during my college breaks. And when I graduated from college, I moved to Montana.

Michael Anselmi: 12:21

All those experiences you had, when did you realize you wanted to be in operations versus something else?

Barb Rooney: 12:27

That is a good question. So when I moved to Montana, I ended up in reservations and I started as, actually, what we would call now, the group reservations manager that I think within a month or so, I took on the reservations manager job as well. So I did both of those things and I was a marketing major in college. And so it certainly seemed logical that I would go into marketing, probably I believe the only job I actually applied for was the marketing position with Taylor, right when I was out of college and I did get the job. And in the process of kind of processing all of that I thought about is this really what I see myself doing, or is operations what was really speaking to me? And I actually grew up in a family business in central Minnesota, mostly retail. And I spent a lot of time growing up in front of customers and working all sorts of different kinds of positions there with different kinds of people and watching my mom and my dad actually lead and solve problems. And with my limited experience at that time, working in hospitality, reservations, and doing all sorts of different things within that role, helping at the front desk and actually helping with housekeeping, I just think I realized I had a passion for problem solving and I loved putting out fires and working with guests and really loved leading the team. So I think after some soul searching, I decided to stay, put and see what that would take me.

Michael Anselmi: 13:52

And how did that transition go?

Barb Rooney: 13:54

Well, this is kind of a funny story, I guess, in my role in the call center of the reservations office, my desk was right next to John Kircher's office, and essentially he could hear everything I did and everything I said. And, at the time, we didn't have offices in our call center. We didn't have doors. It was just one big open room, right. And our lodging director had announced her retirement. And one day I was just walking in the hallway and I ran into John in the hallway. He stopped me and said,"Oh, hey, hey Barb, you know what, you're going to do a great job running the hotels. It's going to be great. Congratulations." And he walked off. Yeah. Uh, I didn't know whether to jump for joy, to be so excited or to throw up or cry. I just, wasn't really sure how I was feeling at that moment, but, you know, remembering I was 24 years old, so it was, uh, quite the leap. And I certainly did not sleep for, I don't know, months after that, but I dug my feet in and, you know, really focused on the team and those relationships. And clear communication was important to me. I knew that when I was 24 and the attention to the details, so that was it. And off we went.

Kari Roder: 15:08

24-- You're the lodging director at Big Sky. That's amazing. Explain some of the challenges, the triumphs of being one of the few executive women in the ski industry.

Barb Rooney: 15:19

Well, that's a great question and a great subject actually, right? It's no doubt that the ski industry is a male dominated industry, as we think about it. Right? I would point out however, that Boyne does have a fairly even number of directors and managers that are women across our resorts, which I think is fantastic. I mean, I've certainly seen that evolve in my years with this company, but no doubt being a woman in this industry, it can be really intimidating. I think one of my challenges has always been balancing, trying to get my point across and be assertive and I'm a detail focused person, right? So trying to focus on those details and get people moving in a direction while not being labeled domineering or worse, yet that the word, the B word. And I don't mean bossy, although I have been called bossy in many other different things. So we joke about it, but it is really very real, I think. And I've certainly learned the hard way and I've stepped on a lot of toes over my years and learned a lot. So I think that's a challenge, but a triumph or a win, maybe, you know, I was a single mom for many years, raising two boys and trying to balance my career with being there for my kids. I'd like to believe that maybe I have shown women and men in our industry and in our company that you can make hospitality in this ski industry a career and have a family. You know, you can put your family first and commit to not missing those important moments and get the job done. So that's not how things were done when I was 24 years old, when I first started, it was all about who, who could stay the latest and who could be in the office the longest and whether you're being productive or not. So things aren't always in balance, but I think you do the best you can. And I think it's critical that we give our teams and our leaders permission to have a life outside of our careers.

Kari Roder: 17:01

I love that. Very inspiring words for everybody up and coming in our company.

Michael Anselmi: 17:05

Well said.

Barb Rooney: 17:07

Thanks.

Nick Lambert: 17:07

So, Barb, I'd like to jump back to everything you said to sort of kick off the interview and thinking about what was it like to run hotels during a pandemic?

Barb Rooney: 17:18

I really can't believe it's been a year it's, it's really hard to think about. And I think--

Nick Lambert: 17:22

Time flies when you're having fun.

Barb Rooney: 17:25

I don't know about you guys, but I did some crying that first week, right? When we had to come up and tell people that we were shutting down and you had people looking at you saying, but I have nowhere to go. We're shutting down housing, we're doing all these things. And these people rely on us and they have nowhere to go. It's a big deal, right? And we're not obviously the only industry in this world that has experienced that, but it was a real challenge thinking about how are we going to spin out of this? And I like to think of myself as a glass half full positive person, but it was- first few days, right? It was really hard to think that way. So I guess, you know, I can't say enough about the flexibility of the team. You know, we had the American Hotel, Lodging Association Stay Safe Guidelines kind of forming as we were thinking about opening for the summer. And that really provided a really nice path and base for our protocols. But again, it really came down to the teams executing our protocols and, really, those folks that are, that are and were, and are doing it for us. So it's been a challenge and you gotta be flexible and you gotta stay positive and see that light at the end of the tunnel. And I think we've all learned a great deal through this last year.

Nick Lambert: 18:31

Across the company, during this time, we've had all these great stories come out of all these teams, just digging in and pulling together this combination of creativity and determination and innovation to problem solve and to stay open, to deliver guest experiences. Does anything stand out to you on the lodging side of either going above and beyond, or really getting creative in executing what we needed to do?

Barb Rooney: 18:57

One of the things that I was, and of course still am really passionate about is not compromising our service delivery and our hospitality with masks and plastic barriers and saying, we're not going to clean your room and no, we're not going to give you a ride and we're not going to do all these things, right. It's very counterintuitive to what we do and how we benchmark ourselves. Right? We worked so hard to grow and improve our standards and how we deliver. And then to turn that off, it's really, really hard. So when it came down to thinking about what are we going to be able to provide, you've got to think about the state and county guidelines and all of that. And every state is wildly different, right? We all know that. But thinking about the can-do attitude of, let's say a bellman where they're saying, no, we can do this. We can get a guest up to the room. We can valet a car. We can, and we will, and we're going to do it safely. And we're going to make people feel comfortable. And if somebody doesn't want to do that, we're great with that too. I don't know that I can describe and layer in one example, there's so many, but I do think about bellman and that frontline and those first faces at many of our resorts and the positivity in the creative applications that they came up with to make it happen. That comes to mind.

Michael Anselmi: 20:06

Let's just shift this a little bit. You know, we've talked about your past as well as the past year, and let's look forward. Let's talk about the exciting stuff. You're a big picture person. You're positive. What are your goals for the next year?

Barb Rooney: 20:19

We are so fortunate as we all know to be in geographical locations where everybody wants to be, right. So the demand, we can see that right in front of us, which is really exciting. So one of the things we're gonna be talking about is how do we unravel some of these things? And obviously again, keep people safe, keep our guests safe, follow state and county guidelines, but what does that look like and feel like? And so that's obviously something that we'll be working on in the next months and certainly over the next year. One of the things that I guess I feel we can improve on or try to figure out is what is the reason why we don't have enough people in our housekeeping teams. That is a problem. Age-old problem. It's an industry problem, but it's a problem for our company, right? And we owe it, I owe it to our teams and the company to figure out why that is and fix it with all of these hotel renovations and everything happening with demand and how we were pushing rate and all those different things. A clean room is kind of foundational. So that's going to be a big focus for our lodging group over the next few months, I think. And then of course, really thinking about all of these renovations that we're working on. I think at last count we have six hotel renovation projects either in the planning phase or the construction phase. Three spa renovations and, or there's a new couple of new builds happening too. So in my 32 years of being with this company, I've never seen this much momentum for hotels and spas. And it's incredibly exciting and rewarding, really is.

Michael Anselmi: 21:48

I don't want you to choose which child you favor more, but is there one that gets you excited more than the others? Is there something that really like,"oh, wow."

Barb Rooney: 21:57

That's a, mother's worst question, Michael, you should know that. So, you know, some of it is just keeping up with the Joneses, right? We are keeping up, that's some of it, but, you know, I think when I think about it, the Boyne Highlands project is certainly, in my opinion, the most transformational along with Chalet Edelweiss-- I don't know if I should say that yet, Kari, at Boyne Mountain and then the spot Sugarloaf, I think could be transformational to that property and to some degree to that resort. So the projects that I think are in some ways, most rewarding are the ones that we have to partner with. Homeowners associations, we have a lot of these condo hotels across our entire network. That's kind of part of our model. And the challenge is inherent challenges with the collaboration and partnership with a complex group of many, many people is kind of a big deal. And to see, for instance, the Summit Hotel project starting, this$19 million renovation in partnership with an HOA, that's a big one. And it is exciting, really rewarding for the team, I think. Many years in the making.

Nick Lambert: 22:58

It's an exciting time. It's awesome. There's just so much going on at every resort right now. Part of our goals here are to get to know our senior leaders better. What's something that people would be surprised to know about you?

Barb Rooney: 23:12

I think some folks that maybe work around me closely know this, but I am a crier. I will cry about my kids. So don't go too far down the road on that one, Nick, I think some people might find me scary as least some people have said that, but, I'm actually pretty big softie.

Nick Lambert: 23:30

I will admit I'm a crier and it's not just my kids-- like a really good dog food commercial. Water works. Absolutely, absolutely.

Barb Rooney: 23:36

That's right.

Kari Roder: 23:41

I'm the same way. And the tail end that question. What do you to the people that think you're scary? You know, like this is your chance to tell them you're not.

Barb Rooney: 23:52

Oh, that's easier said than done, right? I'm not, I promise you. I'm not, I'm not, I'm intense. I've certainly been called intense. And I think maybe my intensity, and certainly in Jim Hunter would tell me the number one thing I needed to do when we started the servant leadership process was smile more. So I've been working on smiling. It's not like you're trying to intimidate someone. I think you just, we all get so focused on what we're doing and so engaged in what we're doing. You forget that, you know what, we're all human beings and we all have lives outside of this place, and we have things that, you know, make us happy and sad and all of those things. So I care deeply about what we do and all the people here. So it pains me if I think someone is afraid of me, but if somebody has come up and talk to me and we'll, we'll talk about it.

Kari Roder: 24:35

And there you go. And even just the context you just gave, I mean, just understanding that I think would help somebody, you know, like we don't take the time enough to get to know each other in we're moving so fast and everybody's working towards getting things accomplished. So it's always good to kind of have these little side chats with different people. And even just in your day to day at work, if you're having an issue with somebody that you work with, it's a good reminder to just step aside and have a little chat with them, not work related, right? Yeah.

Barb Rooney: 25:10

That's right.

Kari Roder: 25:12

Okay, so this one is, again, these questions are like kind of rapid fire all over the place. What's colder, Minnesota or mid-January on top of Lone Peak.

Barb Rooney: 25:23

Wow. Well, I guess I would say, I don't know how much time you've spent in Minnesota, Kari, but I don't really think there's any place in the world colder than Minnesota and the peak of winter. It's a bone chilling to your core kind of thing. I love Minnesota. Don't get me wrong, I'll defend it, I'm loyal to Minnesota, but it is cold.

Michael Anselmi: 25:42

You love the summers. You love those summers on the boat.

Barb Rooney: 25:45

That's right. I looked forward to that every year. That's right with my family. Family first.

Michael Anselmi: 25:50

Our rapid fire continues. Tell us about the worst hotel you've ever stayed in.

Barb Rooney: 25:55

I will credit my husband with this one. I probably won't name it the location, but he prides himself on showing me the state of Montana. Right? He thinks I have not seen much of the state of Montana. And of course it was-- it's an amazing state-- but he took me once to this...'hot spring' resort is a stretch. Between you and me, I wouldn't call it a resort, but we were going to stay in this cabin and we checked into this hotel. It wasn't a really a hotel. It was a bar. You check in and out at the bar. And the guy said,"well, I don't, I don't know that you want to stay at that cabin because there's something out there in them woods, and we're fixing to go kill something tonight. So maybe you don't want to stay up there, but you could stay here in this lodge." And we had been looking around, it's actually a bar, so, okay. We'll have dinner and stay upstairs in the bar. And so we got up to the room and we're right above the bar. And actually I could see the bar because there was holes in the floor and I could actually see what kind of cocktails they were mixing at the bar. And I'm like,"this is great. I really appreciate this lodging experience." So that was probably the worst, but certainly one of the most interesting, no doubt at all. Oh, There was also a spring coming actually out of the mattress. It was actually sticking out, so, oh, wow. It was a restless evening.

Nick Lambert: 27:13

Certainly. I need to meet your husband. I think we would get along really well. This-- very similar conversations have happened in my household from time to time. Barb, what are your passions outside of work?

Barb Rooney: 27:25

Like I said earlier, and I always say this, my families first. Right? My kids, my husband, although I'm not sure my husband would always say he's first, but something we all work on. Right. But, yeah, my family first, but beyond that, I am passionate about my exercise and being consistent with that. It helps me stay relatively calm and focus. So I love to get outside. I love to trail run and hike with our dogs. I am passionate about by Bikram yoga and my hot pilates. I love that, it certainly grounds me and gives me a fantastic workout. And love to golf, love to ski. And now that we are somewhat newly empty nesters going to get back on traveling, I love to travel and of course stay in great hotels.

Michael Anselmi: 28:09

So, well that leads us to our last two rapid fire questions. Let's see where this goes. Final, final. What is your final, final ski run? It could be anywhere again. I opened this up to some of our previous interviewees who knows maybe you're going to follow Brad, but, you know, you're ending the day bluebird day, you went skiing last week with your husband. What was that last run you guys, like, wanted to do?

Barb Rooney: 28:30

Well, I will answer that maybe two ways, but favorite run, really? I do love Congo at Big Sky. It's, um, short and sweet. It's a good little leg burner and it's a nice way to end your day. I also, of course, like skiing down to a lovely Prosecco waiting for me somewhere too. So that's always the best last run destination. Yes, exactly. It's, it's getting there. Right?

Michael Anselmi: 28:55

Final, final hotel anywhere in the world. It might be when you've stayed in or when you've hoping to get to-- let's call them the next year or next two years.

Barb Rooney: 29:04

I would love to get to Europe, of course, and Austria and do some traveling there and stay in some of the amazing places there. And I can't name any particular one, but that's on my bucket list. As is Africa, unrelated, but I guess when I think about a recent hotel, I stayed in, it was actually in New York City. It was one hotel, Brooklyn Bridge, really interesting hotel. They are really focused on sustainability. If you look at what they're doing, it's pretty interesting, but they also combined with the great fit and finishes and service. And it's one of the most amazing locations in my opinion too. So that one kind of stands out in my mind.

Kari Roder: 29:40

Well, thank you so much for joining us today. It has been so fun to get to know you and to know your history with Boyne. Is there anything else that you want to say to everybody listening?

Barb Rooney: 29:52

I guess I'm just full of gratitude, right? I'm full of gratitude for the last year. How we have as a company had such a successful ski season compared to our competitors, how the hospitality industry, you know, oh my gosh, what's going on in the industry in our country is really, really a challenge. So I have a ton of gratitude to the team and to my peers and, and Stephen, right, for getting us through this challenging time. And I remain incredibly optimistic and excited for the future. So without all of the people though, it's what it's all about. All about people, relationships.

Kari Roder: 30:28

Exactly. Well, we're super grateful that you joined us today. So thank you so much.

Barb Rooney: 30:33

Oh, thank you guys! It was fun.

Michael Anselmi: 30:36

Well, that was a great interview. We got to learn a little bit more about Barb, these exciting projects going around Boyne and hear how she felt about all these great efforts by our team members across the company. Over to you, Kari.

Kari Roder: 30:46

Well, we're back to highlighting our team member of the month. So for the month of March, we are honoring Carolyn Farrugia. So I've got a quick little interview with her, so you can learn more about what she does and also want to remind you all, if you want to nominate someone to be the team member the month simply email us at podcast@boyneresorts.com.

Michael Anselmi: 31:07

Well, guys, that was a great, great episode. I feel like every month, we're just learning more about the company and just a wide range of individuals that makes this company what it is. So thanks to Jeff and Kevin, as well as Barb, and congratulations to Carolyn, our employee of the month. And we do want to apologize to all the listeners that we weren't able to profile John McGregor. He seems to have been on spring break, but we're hoping that next month we're going to bring him to you and learn more about a three, four decade executive at Boyne Resorts.

Kari Roder: 31:34

Also, we got to give props to our executive producer who funds this whole thing, Brad Keen.

Michael Anselmi: 31:42

Thank you, Brad. We wouldn't be here without you, Brad. Hopefully we'll have some more seasonal beverages soon if we all get together after COVID.

Kari Roder: 31:49

Until next time!

Transcript for Episode 2

Announcer: 0:00

Saddle up snow farmers, this is the Boyne Employee podcast.

Nick Lambert: 0:10

Welcome to the February edition of the Boyne Team Member podcast. My name's Nick Lambert. I'm joined by Michael Anselmi. We've got a great interview today with Cathy Witherspoon, the Chief Human Resource Officer for Boyne Resorts, talking about how to get 14,000 employees through a global pandemic safely. But first, good news, Michael, they're giving us some backup. They've sent us a total pro with actual experience to help us with this.

Michael Anselmi: 0:35

They have, and welcome Kari Roder from Boyne Mountain. She is a vet, and for those of you out there that didn't know, Kari did win Colorado's"Broadcasters Best Mid-day Show for Work" at KCMV.

Kari Roder: 0:46

Multiple years, Michael, multiple years. No, thank you for having me! I am so excited to be a part of this. Your talent is hard to live up to, but I'm hoping I can add a little color. That's my goal guys.

Nick Lambert: 1:04

We set the bar low.

Kari Roder: 1:04

Well, can I interject a quick shout out to Cathy Witherspoon? I've been so lucky to work with her over the past few years and, closely, even the last few months, she's just an amazing person. And I'm so excited to hear your guys' interview with her. Taking a look at everything else going on and all the other resorts, we're right about mid-season. We're successfully implementing all of our COVID protocols. We've got lots of snowfall and it's going to be exciting as we go through this, we're going to take some hot laps around all the resorts. Get to know some of our team members and highlight all of the amazing work that they're doing.

Michael Anselmi: 1:44

Perfect. Let's hop into our interview with the famous Cathy Witherspoon.

Nick Lambert: 1:52

We'd like to welcome Cathy Witherspoon, the Chief Human Resource Officer for Boyne Resorts. Cathy, welcome to the Boyne employee podcast. Thanks for joining us.

Cathy Witherspoon: 2:00

Thanks for having me, Nick,

Michael Anselmi: 2:02

Cathy, it's a real pleasure to have you here today. We're looking forward to this kind of going back and forth, and we're just going to kick it right off just with the season that we're having, being that your job is to really make sure we're all'okay.' What are your goals for the season?

Cathy Witherspoon: 2:15

My goal is always to have a positive work environment and creating an environment for our teams where they want to come to work. But I think that this year, as you said, there's going to be a secondary focus and it's going to be on making sure that our work environments are safe and that our teams feel safe to come to work. And we've spent time in the summer understanding it, but as everybody knows, things keep changing, but we have protocols. We feel better in place that hopefully our team understands. We're trying, we care about them and that we're going to do the best we can to keep everybody as safe as we can.

Nick Lambert: 2:49

What do you hear from people? Are they concerned? Are they comfortable? Do they understand'what are the protocols?' Why are we doing them?

Cathy Witherspoon: 2:56

Well, I mean, that's a good question, Nick. It's really it's all over the board. I mean, I think in the beginning of the summer, people weren't comfortable. We had people telling us that they didn't want to come back to work. They didn't feel safe in their jobs. We spent a lot of time training people, going through protocols, helping them understand and listening to them and coming up with protocols that they were comfortable with. I think it's going to be a work in progress. There's new things that come up every day and my team has been in the trenches and we just deal with each situation as they come and do the best we can to educate.

Michael Anselmi: 3:28

How has your team been able to innovate in the past? Let's call it six, eight months. Like what are some highlights that you can share with all of us that we're not seeing? Right? Cause I think I can appreciate enough where you and your team do. They are the little things that help us all out.

Cathy Witherspoon: 3:42

You know, we've had to change the way we do a lot of things, you know, for example, the orientations or how we're doing our training. I mean, that's been a huge pivot for us. We like to do that type of thing face to face and realize we can't. Several of the resorts have created really cool videos that they're showing now for training. We've come up with creative ways to use Teams. We're using games like Kahoot and all kinds of things to do online training. We're doing a lot more sessions than we did in the past, just because we have smaller groups, but I think it's been very effective. I think that the most innovative thing, and probably one of the funnest things was at Sunday River-- for their orientations, instead of doing in-person, they bought a huge screen, like the size of a drive-in theater. And they had their orientation in a parking lot, and people, it was like going to the drive in and it was really cool. People loved it. They got popcorn on their way in. People were sitting in their cars when they like something, they were tooting and they could listen to it on their radio. And it was just really well done and people had a blast with it. So I thought that was a really creative way to get a lot of that done.

Nick Lambert: 4:48

The Sunday River orientation was super cool. I went to two of them and I had an important job where the screen was inflatable, and they sort of tied it to me. So when the wind picked up, I was supposed to hold it down. So wind would whip across the parking lot and, you know, take everyone out. So I know I'm contributing. I feel good about coming to work. Yup. Adding value.

Cathy Witherspoon: 5:09

There you go. Thank you for that, Nick. I heard that she was going to put the projector on a blanket, too, cause it was going to be cold and we were worried it might not work or something.

Nick Lambert: 5:18

Yes. We call it, we call it innovation. So, Cathy, part of the reason that we're doing all these podcasts here is to get to know the senior leadership of the company better. Because let's be honest, very few people get to spend time with you, Stephen, Brad Keen, that we spoke with earlier or any other number of people. So we'd like to learn a little bit more about you. And on the flip side of that, Michael and I have personal goals for this. Among them is not to get fired. So I question starting off early with the head of human resources, but let's go with it and see how it goes. How did you get to where you are today?

Cathy Witherspoon: 5:52

You know, I was just saying to somebody the other day, I've never applied for a job. So if that tells you anything I've never,

Nick Lambert: 5:58

I'm going to keep notes.

Cathy Witherspoon: 5:59

I've never applied. So I'm interviewing all these people and teaching people how to do it. And I have never done it, but honestly, I had a friend who I was at home mom and her husband was the ski school director and they needed kids pros and he knew I skied. So I started out in 1987 as a part-time ski instructor just to help out my friend because he didn't have enough children's ski instructors. And then I went from there to just kind of going up through the ranks of becoming a supervisor. I started working there and became full-time seasonal so that we could get free ski passes. So that was important because we had three little kids, husband wanted to ski. I wasn't really working. I became a ski school director and then went up through, I don't know, they just kept asking me to do things, whether it was retail or rentals. One point oversaw the base lodge, and I'm in the furnace room talking to the guy I'm on how to fix the furnace. I mean, you know, walking through the restrooms with my Rebel gloves, picking up trash off the floor, it's just stuff like that. In the early 90s, I became a Vice President, one of the first women Vice Presidents there. And so, and then I kind of evolved into, as you know, Nick, I started working at both Sunday River and Sugarloaf, did that for 12 years. And then seven years ago was asked to take on this corporate role. So I gave up all my ski school and all that stuff and just started doing HR. So here I am!

Nick Lambert: 7:20

Amazing. You interview people all the time.

Cathy Witherspoon: 7:22

I do.

Nick Lambert: 7:22

So do you have any like really cool interview questions? Like how many ping pong balls do you fit in a 747? That type of thing?

Cathy Witherspoon: 7:29

Well, actually, I do. Back in the ski school days when we were trying to find children's supervisors was hard, like we really needed. So I asked this question and I thought my ski school manager, second in charge, I was going to fall off his chair. But I said, if you could be a flower, what would you be? And she said, well, I would be a rose because it's really beautiful. And it looks friendly on the outside, but I can be really thorny on the end. I mean, can you imagine, so she was not on the list-- off the list. The lady that said she wanted to be a Daisy got the job.

Michael Anselmi: 8:02

What kind of flower are you Cathy?

Cathy Witherspoon: 8:05

I'm probably more in the Daisy and the Daisy place. Maybe I'm a dandelion? I'm just one of those weeds that spreads everywhere.

Nick Lambert: 8:17

What's your spirit animal. Do you have one of those? No,

Cathy Witherspoon: 8:20

I don't have a spirit animal. Maybe a dog. I don't know.

Nick Lambert: 8:25

So when you do have an interview, you got to prep for this stuff. It can't bring this,"I don't know."

Cathy Witherspoon: 8:31

No, I-- I know I'm going to have to work on that spirit animal. I mean, if you'd asked me my sign or stuff, Aquarius, I could answer that spirit animal. Interesting.

Nick Lambert: 8:39

So what advice would you give to people in the company? Young, starting out their careers, but with a desire to learn, to grow in the company, seeing what you've seen, knowing what, you know, what advice would you give them?

Cathy Witherspoon: 8:52

I guess what I would say is be open and do the best that you can and do the right thing. And don't be afraid to ask questions. Don't be afraid to look for opportunities because I think that that's one of the things in our company is that we want to develop and grow people. And we want people to understand that there are other opportunities out there and they don't have to stay with the same thing. The more that you can learn, the better. I think one of the reasons I am where I am is because I did so many different things that I gained a good understanding of the industry and how it operates. And I think that that's really important because we have so many different things going on.

Michael Anselmi: 9:30

What do you love about this place and your work-life balance?

Cathy Witherspoon: 9:33

Right now, I'd tell you, I don't know if I have a lot of work-life balance, but back in the day, when I first started back in 1987, when I was an at-home mom, it was great to be able to work part time or being able to have the flexibility of being with my kids. Like I said, I was an at-home mom with three college degrees and I took a job just so that I could get out and do something and also be part of the ski industry.

Nick Lambert: 9:57

What were your three degrees in?

Cathy Witherspoon: 9:59

They're not related to anything, to be honest, my three degrees are in zoology, German, and secondary education.

Michael Anselmi: 10:07

Say your favorite animal in German for us please?

Cathy Witherspoon: 10:09

Mein Hund.

Michael Anselmi: 10:10

What is it?

Cathy Witherspoon: 10:12

My dog!

Nick Lambert: 10:15

That's pretty good. So you graduated three degrees, triple major, went to ski school and your parents said... what?

Cathy Witherspoon: 10:24

Well, there's a lot more before that. I moved in with my boyfriend, which was not a good idea. Catholic, not married.

Nick Lambert: 10:31

I love it. Scandal.

Cathy Witherspoon: 10:31

So they, yeah, so they were just thrilled that I got married.

Nick Lambert: 10:38

Got you into ski school though.

Cathy Witherspoon: 10:39

Got me into ski school and who knows what's going to happen? I mean, honestly I had no aspirations of ever being in the ski industry or, I mean, certainly not HR. I quite honestly, I was probably like the boss of the filing cabinet. I didn't even know what HR was, or would never have given it a thought so. And I was probably the biggest rule breaker when I was in ski school, I was never following the protocols. And I was always like, just take the money, do whatever you can sell, sell, sell. Let's not worry about products or people, or just take the money.

Nick Lambert: 11:09

I love it. Do you have a funniest story from ski school?

Cathy Witherspoon: 11:12

A long time ago, Warren Cook was running the resort and he went out to Sun Valley and he saw all these blowups on their beginner terrain, and he thought they were this absolute coolest thing and that we needed to get these blowups. So he went and ordered... I can't even describe to you, all these huge blow ups and we'd get these boxes and, it's my job, you know, to get this out executed and get all these things put up on the terrain. So I call on my biggest trainer, my best compatriot, Pete Howard, you know, Pete, you had to go up there. He's, he's the trainer learning terrain guy. We got to get up there and get these blowups put up. Well, I get a call on the radio and it's like, Cathy, you need to come up here. And I go up there and there's half my supervisory staff standing on the landing, trying to hold the blow ups down because at Sugarloaf, it's always so windy and they were all standing there and no one could even go do the lineup because we're standing there holding the blow up staff. And we would have in some of them are flying up in the air. It was really hysterical. So that lasted for about two hours. And when we just had to say to Warren,"this isn't going to work." So that was the end of the blow ups. I don't know how much money we spent on that,

Michael Anselmi: 12:19

How we know those ski trips by our senior executives when they come back with these big ideas. And then...

Cathy Witherspoon: 12:24

Exactly!

Nick Lambert: 12:26

That was basically my job at orientation. So full circle. There we go.

Cathy Witherspoon: 12:30

That's right. That's when you said that I was like, I have a blow up story.

Michael Anselmi: 12:35

So just pivoting a little bit. What's your best leadership advice for someone who's just getting started?

Cathy Witherspoon: 12:40

I think leadership has changed over the years some, the way we lead now and the way we used to. But what I've learned in my years is it's really important to listen. And now I would say to a new leader, it's really important to listen to your team and give them a voice and let them be part of the decision-making. I mean, we need to show empathy and understanding. And I think one of the things that took me a while to learn, but I got it. I've learned that it's not how it gets done, it's that it gets done. And it's the perseverance and the patience there.

Nick Lambert: 13:13

All right, Cathy jumping back to this summer. What did you see that maybe you are most proud of?

Cathy Witherspoon: 13:17

I'm even going to jump to March just real quick, but to close down 10 resorts in 24 hours and the burden that put on the HR team of exiting all these people and dealing with other questions and helping them through unemployment was huge. And the way that the team executed was awesome. But then, the other thing is, when we decided to reopen and we were coming up with-- we'd never done this before, we really had never lived through anything like this-- and to come up with the safe work practices that we had and the way that the team was able to train it, execute it, get these protocols in place. And I want to do a shout out to Michigan because they got busy, fast with the golf and everything that they did. The Michigan team executed the protocols, they got all the health checks, they really made it happen. Yeah, did we have some ups and downs in the beginning, but they really made it happen. And they did it with extraordinary speed. And we had very few cases, positive cases of COVID throughout the whole summer. And the couple cases that we had were very well confined because people did follow the protocols and they did wear the masks. And I think Michigan just did an outstanding job with what they had to work with. And so little time.

Nick Lambert: 14:35

I was blown away just watching all the resorts from afar. I was blown away at the speed and the creativity that I saw individuals and teams using to solve these, just-- I mean, honestly, huge challenges that there's no playbook for and dropped on people with no notice, no planning, but no choice, right, But to just jump on them and do your best and figure it out.

Cathy Witherspoon: 14:58

I am really extremely proud of the HR team and how they come together and how we communicate and collaborate and share ideas. Michigan was somewhat of a beacon and a lot of the other resorts were reaching out to them. And how did you handle this? How did you handle that? What's going on? It's really been incredible to watch and I'm very proud of them.

Nick Lambert: 15:18

What is something that people would be surprised to learn about you?

Cathy Witherspoon: 15:20

I think that people might be surprised to know that I skied the Haute Route twice in Europe, where you hike, it's a lot of skinning or rock climbing. We went from France to Switzerland. It was pretty rigorous, but in the French Alps. Absolutely beautiful.

Nick Lambert: 15:38

So if you ever do that again, call me

Cathy Witherspoon: 15:41

McGregor said the same thing

Nick Lambert: 15:43

And Michael. Well, that's incredible. Well, Cathy, thank you for coming on the show. Appreciate you taking some time telling us some stories, telling us a little bit about yourself. Thank you from both of us.

Michael Anselmi: 15:54

Yeah. And thanks to your team. People do say thanks, but we appreciate everything that you and the team do because it gets us through. It's very helpful.

Cathy Witherspoon: 16:00

Thank you both for asking the questions and having me and I appreciate your time as well.

Nick Lambert: 16:06

What an awesome story. I just love it. I love Cathy. And that was such a great chance to hear a little bit about her background, Kari, what do you have for us?

Kari Roder: 16:13

Let's get started with some shout outs. Now, remember you can nominate one of your coworkers each month by simply emailing us podcast@boyneresorts.com. And guess what? They're going to win a$50 gift card to Boyne Country Sports if we choose them. So get on that, send us some emails this month. We're giving big love to Amanda Bomers and Chef Dean at Boyne Highlands Resort for their work with a local college. You guys are going to be excited to hear about all the things that they're doing to get involved in the community and using their resources. In fact, we're going to talk to Amanda Bomers right now. I am so excited to introduce our first Boyne Employee of the Month over our podcast. So for the month of February, Amanda Bomers and Chef Dean from Boyne Highlands Resort are chosen as our winners of a$50 gift card to Boyne Country Sports. And I'm even more excited because I just so happen to have Amanda and an opportunity to talk to her a little bit about the program she did with a local college in Petoskey. But first of all, there's a lot of people that haven't met you. Amanda, can you tell us just a little bit about yourself, your experience of Boyne?

Amanda Bomers: 17:26

Well, I moved up to Northern Michigan in 2012. I started in the Zoo Bar as a server. I worked at Hidden River Golf and Casting Club for a few summers. And then I took on a role in HR in October of 2013. And I haven't looked back since.

Kari Roder: 17:43

So many of our stories start from intro, get your foot-in-the-door job, and just continue to elevate within the company. And that's, what's so great about working for Boyne Resorts. Now we want to hear a little bit more about this project that you did with the local college in Petoskey. What can you tell us about it?

Amanda Bomers: 17:59

I worked on creating a culinary apprenticeship program and I didn't know where to start, but at a state of community luncheon, I heard Dr. David Finley talk to the community about him taking over as the president of the college in Petoskey. It put the idea in my brain that we need to get creative with recruitment and be a unique opportunity for either the local region or draw people from outside areas to join our team in the culinary world. We noticed it was a high turnover departments and maybe people didn't want it, or weren't passionate about it. So we're searching for passionate individuals that wanted to work in the culinary longterm. So we partnered with Northwest Michigan Works, the American Culinary Federation, North Central Michigan College, and we created a culinary apprenticeship program that is nationally recognized by the Department of Labor.

Kari Roder: 18:53

Simply amazing. And it's so true when you have people that are so passionate about it, it shows in every aspect of their customer service-- of the delivery, of the presentation of the food, all of it. So how smart for you to put all those pieces together? I love it. In the end, I feel like you're finding the results that you were looking for. Where does it go in the future?

Amanda Bomers: 19:15

Well, we launched in January of 2020, which turns out to not be the ideal timeframe due to everything happening. So we're going into the second year of the program. We worked out some kinks, we've made some adjustments. We started with eight apprentices. We have four left and we have seven registered for second year to start a new cohort. So I see the program growing we learned about, okay, do these people have the right intuition, the right passion, the right drive? Because our first round, we were just so excited to get it going that maybe we didn't look at making it challenging. So I see the program growing and getting more competitive and unique as we continue.

Kari Roder: 19:58

Thank you so much for joining us today. Congratulations on being honored as our first of many Employees of the Month to come for our February podcast, congrats to you and also to Chef Dean. So make sure you give him our congrats as well. Anything else that you want to say? Any words of inspiration for all of our listeners out there?

Amanda Bomers: 20:20

I just want to say thank you. And Boyne's a great place to work. You live the lifestyle, have fun and be daring.

Kari Roder: 20:27

Thank you to Amanda for giving us some of her time and sharing that super cool story. Remember, if you have a coworker that you would like to give a shout out to on the Boyne Team Member podcast, simply email us podcast@boyneresorts.com. We want to give shout outs to other resorts as well. I'm happy to speak about my home resort, Boyne Mountain Resort in the wake of everything going on. We're unable to operate our water park Avalanche Bay, and our team has really stepped up to fill in the needs around the resort. And I just want to thank all of those team members who have raised their hand, who have helped out at the season pass office stepped over to housekeeping to flip beds for us or guests can get into the rooms on time and pitching in all over the place. And it's just been a great synergy that we've really felt at Boyne Mountain this week.

Nick Lambert: 21:19

Kari, I'd take that a step further and I would say thanks to everyone at every resort who's been plugging in to help all their fellow team members this winter and, you know, congrats to everyone across Boyne Resorts. It's been a tough winter, but we're getting it done together.

Michael Anselmi: 21:33

We are. And we just got a special team here. Just goes to show the culture and what we have. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back in March with John McGregor and the team from Loon as we highlight one of their longtime veteran employees. So again, thanks for listening. Appreciate the input from everybody. Adios. See you soon.

Transcript for Episode 1

Announcer: 0:00

Saddle up, snow farmers. This is the Boyne Employee podcast.

Nick Lambert: 0:08

Welcome to the Boyne Employee podcast. My name is Nick Lambert. I'm based here in scenic Sunday River, Maine. With me is Michael Anselmi all the way from Boulder, Colorado. Michael, what are we doing here?

Michael Anselmi: 0:18

We are kicking off the Boyne Employee podcast, a medium where we're going to get to know the top to the bottom of this company, the right and the left, east and the west, and really create something that I'm really excited about. It's going to take all of us. We got one a month and we'll see where it goes.

Nick Lambert: 0:33

So let's talk about what we're doing, what's going on that's cool. And then let's get to know some people, some senior leaders, anybody in the company doing cool stuff. Let's find them and talk to them.

Michael Anselmi: 0:43

We're going to have to find some, but then there's just some right in front of us too. Right?

Nick Lambert: 0:47

Where do we start?

Michael Anselmi: 0:47

Well, I mean, you want to listen to somebody for five, ten minutes. You think of characters. I'd love to go to F&B with Brad Keen, but also I'm hopeful that John McGregor and Bernie Friedrich will make time for us as well.

Nick Lambert: 1:00

That's a tall order. They are busy. I'm sure their appearance fees are going to be sky high, but let's, let's see what we can get done. Where do we go from there?

Michael Anselmi: 1:07

We're going to go back to that seasonal flavor of Brad Keen and just let him talk to us about some food and some beverage and walk us through his life and time at Boyne Resorts.

Nick Lambert: 1:17

Food and beverage. It's like Country and Western. I love Brad. I'm going to say that'll be a memorable interview. Then I say, we go, we dive off the deep end. We talk to Stephen Kircher, go right to the top.

Michael Anselmi: 1:28

Why not? You always got to start at the top sometime. And it'd be really exciting to hear what he thinks about where we're going and what's going on because he really cares about this place and all of us. So I think that will be great as we move forward, as well as for the first podcast.

Nick Lambert: 1:42

And where we've been. I would hazard to say there are any number of humorous, perhaps untold stories of Boyne history. And we would just need to find the right people to tell them.

Michael Anselmi: 1:52

I'm not going to say find the bodies, but boy, just find the content.

Nick Lambert: 1:56

All right, I'm in. Let's do it.

Michael Anselmi: 1:57

Here we go.

Nick Lambert: 2:01

All right. Our first guest is Senior Vice President of Food and Beverage. Brad Keen. Brad, thanks for joining us. Welcome to the program.

Brad Keen: 2:10

Thank you, Nick.

Nick Lambert: 2:12

So Brad, I understand you've been with the company for a few years.

Brad Keen: 2:15

I have.

Nick Lambert: 2:17

When did you start? And in what capacity?

Brad Keen: 2:20

Okay, so I started in late 1987, December 20th, to be exact, 1987. I did my externship from the culinary Institute of America. So I rolled on the scene at Boyne Highlands on that day. And my job was prep. I prepped potatoes and vegetables. I worked the middle on the line. So I handed plates to the line chefs, and that's how that's where it all started.

Nick Lambert: 2:44

And you showed up for your second day.

Brad Keen: 2:46

I showed up for my second day. I lived in the dorms, which are located at the bottom of the tournament runs at Boyne Highlands, which was the original ski lodge in 1957. When the resort was called, The Harbor Highlands is what it was called, actually Harbor Highland Ski Club.

Nick Lambert: 3:01

How was your first boss?

Brad Keen: 3:02

My first boss, his name was Roger Cooley. He was the chef. Uh, there were two chefs or a morning chef during the day, Roger Pilgrim. And then Roger Cooley was the executive chef in the evenings and he was all right. He was already a good guy.

Michael Anselmi: 3:16

And somehow you managed to sneak your way into the GM of the Highlands. You know, where'd that go from the prep cook?

Brad Keen: 3:22

So a long time coming, right? I showed up in'87 to my externship. I left in the spring of'88 to go back to college, but I was back and forth. I worked the summer that next summer at the Highlands. I graduated in January of'89, came back full time. They were building the Country Club of Boyne and finishing The Ross Golf Course at the time the country club opened in--I think it was August of'90. And they had a chef hired for that position and I worked the breakfast and lunch shift at The Highlands. And then a few years after that in'93, the Executive Chef of the Country Club of Boyne and I swapped roles. He came back over to the hotel. I went out there and assumed the responsibilities at CCB. And I did that for five years. At the end of the first summer of'93, Boyne Highlands took back over the Bartley House, which is a small 60 room hotel at the resort, had a full service restaurant in it, it was owned by the Bartley's and it was a lease. And when we took that over, I created, there was part of the team that created the restaurant in the Bartley House and did that for five years in between all of that. I ran a cafeteria for a few years, which I think really kind of launched my my Boyne career. Not many CIA chefs want to run a cafeteria. I had small children at home. I thought it'd be a fun challenge and primarily work days. So I ran the cafeteria and took on scratch cooking into the cafeteria instead of the Stouffer's macaroni and cheese, we made our own macaroni and cheese. We made it our own soups and chilis and entrees and wanted to be-- I wanted it to be food first in the cafeteria. And it went really well. We had the resort hired their first ever food and beverage director while I was the cafeteria manager/ summertime country club chef. He worked for a few years and when he left, John McGregor was the general manager of the resort at the time. And John said, you should apply for that job. And I said, John, I have no desire to, you know, work in the front of the house. I don't know anything about it. I certainly don't have the wardrobe. I live in cargo shorts in the summer and jeans, in the winter. And then we're houndstooth check pants and a chef's jacket when I'm working. And John said, well, it'd be good. It'd be good for you just to apply for the job and interview for it. And John was, you know, he was a great general manager of the resort kind of took me under his wing. So I thought, well, you know what, I'll apply for it and interview and continue on. And so I threw my hat in the ring and we didn't have an HR department at the time or anything else. So I just told John's administrative assistant that I'd be interested in applying the job. And John called me the next day. He said, congratulations, you got the job. I said, I haven't interviewed for it yet. John said you've been interviewing for it for a few years, Brad. Congratulations. So there, I was--

Nick Lambert: 6:08

Let me jump, in just to clarify, you thought working in food and beverage would be a) fun and b) involved working days. Okay. And second, I'm hearing that you were tricked into your next job by John McGregor. Is that accurate?

Brad Keen: 6:23

I absolutely was. I absolutely was.

Nick Lambert: 6:26

Okay. Continue.

Michael Anselmi: 6:27

Sounds familiar, Nick.

Brad Keen: 6:28

And so I took over this food and beverage position. And when my mother took me to JC Pennies, she bought me some Dockers and, you know, I had the token shirt that I would wear to funerals and weddings, different color tie for the occasion, one jacket, you know, pair of pants. But anyway, so I took over The Highlands, food and beverage and the gentleman that was running it before came in and made a lot of drastic changes, really great changes to the resort. And I said to him, before he left, what am I going to do to make my mark? And he said, you know, you're going to figure that out eventually as you get into the role. Well, I dug into the role and I found that I, you know, obviously by looking at me, you know, I love food and beverage and I really enjoyed the numbers of it and how to make money in food and beverage. You know, an average restaurant in the world outside of a ski resort, you know, makes 5% or 8% profit. They're not making a lot of money. There's not a lot of money in the restaurant business. I figured that out. I figured out how to come up with better, how to get better food costs, better labor costs, more efficiencies, closed a few outlets at The Highlands. And then it just blossomed from there. You know, a few years later, I think two years later, I helped out with the Inn at Bay Harbor and Boyne Mountain. And then after our founder, Mr. Everett Kircher passed away, Steve wanted to change what the company looked like as far as our leadership team and flattened the pyramid, so to speak, and wanted to create a vice president's role. And I was fortunate enough to be on the short list to become a vice president of the company, running Food and Beverage, which only consisted of at the time of Big Sky in Michigan, Brighton, and Crystal and The Summit at Snoqualmie. And of course Cypress were part of Boyne West, which John Kircher ran. And then we hadn't acquired any of the Eastern resorts yet. They actually didn't have, we didn't have The Summit either. The Summit came at the same time as the Eastern resorts. And then in Steve, knowing that trajectory of the company that he wanted and the growth needed to have subject matter experts is what we call ourselves. And so I took over the vice president role. And then as our company grew, we changed our titles. He changed our titles of senior vice presidents, and then we had vice presidents at resorts in regions. So that's where it all, that's how it all came to fruition.

Michael Anselmi: 8:49

What's the most popular selling item at Boyne Resorts in F&B?

Brad Keen: 8:53

Good question, chicken tenders, hamburgers, pizza, French fries.

Nick Lambert: 8:58

My kids support the chicken tender sides.

Michael Anselmi: 9:03

Getting back to the numbers. What has the highest margin of that group?

Brad Keen: 9:07

Chicken tenders. Burgers. Pizza, and French fries. They all do that. They are very profitable items to sell. And as the world changes and we saw in 2008, when the economy was probably at its worst and how much we can remember of it, of the past. That's when those items on menus and those types of restaurants really flourished because people couldn't afford to go out to eat and have a$60 steak. Everyone can afford pizza burgers, French fries, and chicken tenders. That really helped them be able to these small restaurants accomplish great profitability by that.

Michael Anselmi: 9:42

Speak to the new system, Brad. There's some people that have intimate knowledge of it, or hear about it on conference calls, but walk us through the new system and what capabilities it's going to give us.

Brad Keen: 9:50

One of the things that we're very proud of this year, and we're really excited about, is the opportunity for our customers to be able to order online with their phone scan, a QR code, open up a check to a restaurant, order food for pickup or delivery, and have really contactless opportunities for them and for our employees. So for instance, if you guys are on a lift at Sunday River, and you decide that you want to order burgers from the Foggy Goggle, you can do that from your phone, pay for it, and then the system will tell you what time you can pick it up and where. And so we may have a pickup window at Sunday River down in South Ridge. So you walk up to an outside window, give your name, we'll give you your food and you can go eat it on the picnic table. You can take it back to your condo, your hotel room, go to the parking lot, even be in your car if you want.

Nick Lambert: 10:39

That's amazing. Let me take your example one step further. Can I order from the lift and send my kids down to pick it up for me? So I don't really have to deal with any of that?

Brad Keen: 10:48

Absolutely. Unless of course you've ordered beer.

Nick Lambert: 10:51

Well, that was my next question.

Brad Keen: 10:53

So you had to draw the line somewhere, Nick. Boyne Highlands food court will be open to the public to be able to come in. However many were allowed in at that food court at one time, we'll have people counting so tables are socially distanced. Forty Acres of Boyne Mountain is another great example of a restaurant that we bought igloos for, like we did at Sunday River. So at Forty Acres, you'll be able to reserve an igloo and for your family of six and go inside there, scan your QR code, order your food and drinks. We know what igloo you're in. We'll deliver the food to the door, take your food in. You'll be able to have lunch. We're going to ask that-- we're going to have a time limit on your table there as well. The guests leave. We go in, we sanitize and we're ready for the next group of people.

Nick Lambert: 11:39

Tell me more about these igloos. What are they made of? Who's building them?

Brad Keen: 11:43

So, Jeff Suffolk, it was it's his brain child to--

Nick Lambert: 11:47

Oh, this is all a terrible idea.[laughs]

Brad Keen: 11:49

It took me a while to bring Jeff into this conversation, but I'm going to have to bring him in now because he deserves the kudos for it. We've all seen it, these igloos, various places. We have them right here in Petoskey, Michigan at a brewery. And they've had them there for a couple of years. We've talked about buying them, but we've never really thought we had the need to have them until now. So Jeff found the igloos. I believe they're a plastic plexiglass dome. We have to build the bases that they sit on in the doorway, the vestibule to get in. They'll have little electric heaters in them and a table that accommodates however many people we're allowed to have in that igloo for that particular state. And for right now, our tests are Boyne Mountain and in Sunday River. Pretty excited about it because even right now in Michigan, there is no indoor dining allowed right now. It's a three-week lockdown, it could go longer. You're allowed to eat outside and you're also allowed to eat in a yurt or a hut or a igloo providing you are the family from the same household. And again, it's only six people, but we can operate with those things today.

Nick Lambert: 12:53

I think those sound super cool. Yeah, and right along with that, if they really work well, big food and beverage victory. If they don't work well, terrible idea from Jeff and you know, what are you going to do?

Brad Keen: 13:06

Well, I already know that if they're really, really successful, we're going to credit the resort's Food and Beverage teams for the idea. If they're not successful, we're going to blame Jeff. What we have learned in this pandemic is the first thing you do in a crisis is assess blame.

Nick Lambert: 13:23

Yes, step number one,

Brad Keen: 13:25

If we need to assess blame it, you know, unfortunately it's going to have to be Jeff.

Nick Lambert: 13:28

All right, so help me. I've always said, probably incorrectly, the worst place to work would be food and beverage, except maybe human resources-- human resources would be the worst. Why am I wrong? You know, dispel the myths, why is working food and beverage great?

Brad Keen: 13:44

Instant gratification. You work with you work alongside people that create memories for guests, whether it's great service, great food and great experiences. We get instant gratification every day, every minute of the day. And hopefully it's more gratification than it is the opposite of that. You know, I'm pretty fond of a restaurateur in New York-- his name is Danny Meyer. He wrote a book called Setting The Table. I bought a hundred copies and shared them with the team a bunch of years ago. He talks about hospitality and what is hospitality? And he summed it up pretty easily by saying hospitality is present when you do something for someone. And it's the opposite when you do something to someone and that's it, that's food and beverage. That's exactly it. We are there, day in and day out, doing great things for our guests and hope we're accomplishing the goals. And it's tough. But I personally have been doing this since I was 16 years old in the restaurant biz, and absolutely love it.

Michael Anselmi: 14:43

Just kind of going back to your career, who has had the most impact on your career, Brad, and your time here? Just-- you speak to Danny Meyer. You speak to McGregor. Who has had that?

Brad Keen: 14:55

It's really not any one person. It's a combination. When I took over as a general manager of the Highlands, when John McGregor handed me the keys to the resort, I thought, what kind of a general manager do I want to be? And as I thought about it, I wanted to have a little bit of Taylor Middleton, a little bit of Ed Grice, a little bit of Randy Doyle, right? I think that there's, that, you know... McGregor is brilliant with ski. He gets it. Taylor is brilliant with the BS that it takes, right? And he knows how to get people, get people to do things. Ed Grice, the can-do attitude. Now Ed's never said no in his life. And he figures out how to do it. I tried to take the best attributes from these guys to kind of mold it into when I ran the resort. In food and beverage, you know, you can, you'd go outside of the company and you look at people like, you know, Danny Meyer, Chef Thomas Keller there, David Chang, right? There's lots of great, great chefs out there and great operators. The biggest impact, I think, on my professional life was when I joined the Michigan restaurant and Lodging Association, and I sat on the board of directors with 40 other people that were in the same boat that I'm in differently. Cause most of those 40 people, it was their companies that they were representing. And I was representing our company that I work at it like I own it and always have. And every dollar that we spend, I want to make sure that I-- the straight face test, and these people taught me so much. And I feel like I gave back to them as well. You know, it takes a village, it takes a village, right? And it takes a village when you, when you're working on your career and you want to, you want to flourish and you want to be really good at it. It is not just one person or one type of cuisine. Right? It's all of them, it's all of them. And as a CA Chef, you know, I think that when I ran the cafeteria, you know, I'm flipping burgers, you want to call it? Well, I wanted to make sure it was the best burger you're going to get. But, and you can extrapolate that through the entire industry of people. And it's a lot of fun. Again, it's a lot of fun.

Nick Lambert: 17:02

So, Brad, we're going to get into a couple fun questions here towards the end, because part of this is just to get to know you better.

Brad Keen: 17:09

Yep.

Nick Lambert: 17:09

Right? Where the SVPs are seldom seen across the company. Most of you, most people don't know you guys really well.

Michael Anselmi: 17:16

So you like to use the word"final final". So we're going to play the game called Final Final. You're going to close this puppy and you're retiring from skiing. What is your final, final trail on any resort in the world? You'd want to ski?

Brad Keen: 17:31

Elk Park, Big Sky Resort, four o'clock with Bernie Friedrich, because that is my favorite run at Big Sky with Bernie.

Nick Lambert: 17:41

What is your final, final restaurant?

Brad Keen: 17:44

Connie's Cafe, Ossineke, Michigan. I'm going to have the farmer's omelet.

Nick Lambert: 17:49

I'm writing that down. Noted.

Brad Keen: 17:51

My hometown, by the way.

Michael Anselmi: 17:52

Next time we're in town, Nick, we're going.

Nick Lambert: 17:53

Yes. And we charge it to Brad because-- we haven't talked about this yet, but as I understand it, Brad is the-- he's the first guest, so, he's the Executive Producer, all this stuff, this goes on the F&B tab.

Michael Anselmi: 18:06

Exactly.

Brad Keen: 18:08

As it should.

Nick Lambert: 18:09

Brad, thank you for joining us. Always good to speak.

Brad Keen: 18:12

Guys. I really appreciate you doing this. This is a lot of fun. I hope that we can do many, many more of these for not only our employees and team members of the company, but for our guests as well. I think that setting the expectation for our team to understand what it's going to be like is, again, you're right, not very many people outside of Michigan know me very well anyway. They know the resort teams, but I, you know, that we over-communicate what to expect as an employee and as a customer, I think will help us with our success this winter. And everyone needs to wear a mask.

Nick Lambert: 18:46

All right, guys, we're throwing caution to the wind and jumping right to the big boss today. We're speaking with Stephen Kircher, CEO and President of Boyne Resorts. Stephen, welcome to the Boyne Employee podcast. And thanks for joining us.

Stephen Kircher: 18:58

Well, it's an honor. I think this is going to be a fun way to communicate to our teams and beyond.

Michael Anselmi: 19:04

Well, Morning, Steven, we really want to ask you some heavy questions. So here we go. How many days have you skied this year?

Stephen Kircher: 19:10

I have skied three times so far this year. So a little below average at this point, but I'm out there. I'm happy. It's probably the most satisfying time, best snow I've ever had, being that we had to cut it short last March like we did. And it was great to be out-- really great to be out. Everybody I was with was just tickled that we are doing it again. So there's a real energy around skiing. I think that everybody's feeling right now.

Michael Anselmi: 19:35

Getting into your passion about skiing. When and where did you learn to ski?

Stephen Kircher: 19:39

I learned like many people do in the backyard at probably three, you know, at least putting skis on, pushing around, you know, going down the driveway. And then my real recollection is going to ski school on Saturdays at Boyne Mountain with the Austrian ski school, and Helga was my instructor. And I remember doing that every Saturday and it was like going to school and you know, you didn't want to do it, but you had to. And it made me a better skier and maybe a technically a decent skier. I know Sundays were free skiing days, so that was more fun to go out and ski on your own, but learn to Boyne Mountain, where it all started, at sort of five years old. I had a hat that I think was red and white went down to my feet. You know, one of those long hats, I got a picture of it. So yeah, it's fond memories of the early days. Although-- back I go on and on here-- but you know, we had to walk about 300 yards to get to the rope tow. And then it was a rope tow, which of course for kids was like, you know, the most disastrous thing to ever train people on. So, you know, you end up face planning more times than you actually went up. And then as soon as you got over there, you had to go to the restroom immediately. So you were crying. I had to go to the restroom, you know, so you'd go back 300 yards back to the bathroom after about 15 minutes of skiing. And then you go back at it again and then you want your hot chocolate break as soon as that was over with. So that was my memories of five-year-old skiing.

Nick Lambert: 21:04

I feel like every parent in every ski pro is listening to this and saying,"Oh my God, that's my kid every time."

Stephen Kircher: 21:11

Yeah, and it makes you think about, you know, how we want to and have worked on for the last 70 years plus to simplify the experience for newbies. And you know, we're still not there and we need to keep working on it, but we're a lot better than we used to be. Magic carpets replaced the rope tows, and obviously having bathrooms near the base areas and putting the complexes so that you don't have to trudge your kid 300 yards to get to the start of it is all part of it. It's a journey we're all on to make it a more user-friendly sport because, you know, all of us who are passionate, we kind of forget those times when you first start. And, we have to remember that.

Nick Lambert: 21:47

Stephen, what was your first job with the company?

Stephen Kircher: 21:50

First job was under the esteemed Bernie Friedrich at Boyne Mountains' golf shop. I was a ball striper, which is someone who takes the balls from the ponds that the divers got, or they were removed out of the ponds that were collected-- golf balls that people lost. And we took those balls out and I would clean them. I would call them getting the good ones, the hard balls from the ones that were cut. And then we would put certain balls in for the driving range. And those I'd stripe with a big red stripe that I put on myself. And then I would separate the balls. And some of them we would put in the pro shop to be resold. So that was my job for about two or three summers. And, I should have a written a letter to OSHA or somebody because I remember the working conditions were so bad. I remember there was no ventilation. I had this paint that was highly toxic. I had this hydrochloric acid that I used to put the golf balls in, which had a fume as well. And I'd go home and I would be sick. And my head would ache and, you know, I would be nauseated and I'd tell dad. I said,"this is a horrible working condition." He said, oh, you've just got to toughen up. And I remember we put fans in though. I talked Bernie into putting fans in and we got fresh air into the area and improved the working conditions so I would go home without a headache and nausea anymore. So Bernie was empathetic from the very beginning. And I remember him as a boss, and he taught me one of the great lessons in life that you can respect your boss and like him, which my dad said that you could never like your boss. You could only gain respect. So Bernie did a great thing for me in management. I think in teaching the fact that you could be respected and liked at the same time, those were not mutually exclusive.

Nick Lambert: 23:31

That is a great lesson. So to build on that, what was the best piece of advice that your father ever gave you?

Stephen Kircher: 23:37

What resonates to me is being fair and honest in dealing with people, especially in negotiating, whether it's internally or externally, but really trying to make sure you are forthright in everything you do and fair find that win-win in every situation. I think he was really about that at the core, as much as he may have found it differently from time to time, but that was his core. You know, a story that would exemplify that is when Boyne Highlands was started in 1963, he had bought a bankrupt ski area. The Harbor Highlands Ski Resort had gone bankrupt two years before. And there were a lot of contractors that had not been paid for construction of various projects at Harbor Highlands. And when dad took it over, he paid off all the contractors that were owed money as part of his entry into that market in the Harbor Springs/Petoskey area. And I think that exemplifies his attitude about how you should fairly treat people and think about the long term, how that impacts things. And a lot of business people, I think, have short-term win at all costs mindset. And certainly not a long-term perspective on how your actions are going to be portrayed. And that I think is a lesson that I've taken to heart. And certainly one of our core values that we adhere to and try to drive home in everything we do. And, you know, obviously you got to make some short-term decisions periodically that have to be juxtaposed or balanced against the long term. But, you know, if you're always thinking about the long-term while you're making decisions, I think a better way and, and being fair and honest in your dealings is part of that being, thinking long-term

Michael Anselmi: 25:16

What has it been like running this business through the pandemic with that kind of mindset?

Stephen Kircher: 25:21

Well, it's a perfect example of how do you deal with the short term, right? How do you adjust short-term? How do you make sure you survive long term and then get through the short-term to survive long term and then make decisions that are not too short sighted? So, it has been a good test for us. Thankfully, we have been on a long journey here for the last 15, 20 years of improving how we do business and who we are. And we were much stronger going into this situation than probably we've ever been. And that allowed us to make some really solid decisions and also be comfortable that we were going to make it through. Obviously, there was a lot of panic back in March and April about where things were going to go and across the entire economy of the world. And I think we were in a much better shape to be calmly thinking about how to move forward. I think, you know, the other thing that, you know, we do as a company and an industry, not just us, but I mean, if we've-- I think-- refined it as well as anybody is, you know, we all had to make adjustments in the past. When you have a bad snow year, you know, we have what we call red light plans and those red light plans are well thought through. And there are things we do that in the short run, we take action on that, that help us navigate to the long term more successful. And I think this pandemic was really another example of our way to pivot when we have to enter into some of those red light plans after a tough winter or during a tough winter and making adjustments quickly, and the teams have become very adaptive and flexible. And I think really I'm used to this kind of thing. I think for us as a company, and again, as our industry, I think we adapted to this pandemic better than many other sectors of the economy. For those reasons, we're just kind of used to these pivots and being flexible from operational plan perspective. And our teams, many of them, have obviously been with us decades and decades or with the companies that we've acquired. There's a great deal of experience and a lot of creativity and a lot of collaboration that happened that I'm really proud of as a team, entered that period and came out of it. And summer obviously ended up a lot better than any of us thought it would be. And a lot of it was because we adapted quickly.

Nick Lambert: 27:28

What do you think, today, it means to our team and our guests that we have grown to where we are, but have we've remained a family owned business when much of the rest of the ski industry has consolidated into publicly owned companies or larger conglomerates? It seems to me we're in a very unique situation. What do you think the takeaways are from that?

Stephen Kircher: 27:47

Being family-owned is good and bad, right? It's not always beneficial. It's only beneficial if you're a well-run company and family owned. And I think that what we've gone from is a company that evolved through some growing pains. Obviously we expanded quite a bit. Obviously we had those growing pains. We are very'mom and pop.' So when we were a small company, we didn't have budgets. We didn't have discipline. We didn't have the same decision-making processes that we have now, and metrics to measure where we are. We were flying blind. It was like a lot of times I felt like we're flying an airplane with no idea what the altitude was and the speed. And you're hoping you're not going to hit a mountain and you're flying in a cloud. That's not a good feeling to be in whether you're private, public or whatnot. That's not a recipe for long-term success. I think we improved mentally all across the board, and because we're privately held, we also have this long term opportunity to reinvest in a way that I think is going to be game changing. And we're preparing obviously, what, these ten-year plans that many of the resorts have, to take them to the next level to really nurture their individuality in a way that can make them separate themselves from their competitive set, whether they're in Washington state or Maine, or Michigan, or Montana. And it's just a really exciting time. I think for us as a company, I think our recreational space, the outdoor recreation, experiential recreation, everyone would call us, we're in a really good part of the world economy right now. I think that we have the opportunity to really take advantage of that. And I think that our individual resorts are positioned really well within that to also take advantage of it, you know, this transformation of into many, four-season activities, you know, certainly elaborating on our winter activities and expanding on those and improving those, but making our business more robust in different of the year is certainly on the cusp of happening at another level going into another gear. It is an exciting time. And again, because I think we're privately held and we don't have to pay out significant amount of our income to shareholders that some of our bigger compatriots have to do. Certainly Vail is public and they are constrained in that regard. And, you know, if Altera ends up going public, they'll have their tug of war with that issue as well. But I'm excited about where we are and what we've accomplished as a team. And I'm just honored to be carrying the mantle or carrying the baton, I guess, for this period of time and trying to make us as successful as possible and responsible individuals of our individual communities too. We've got a lot of people that rely on us, not just the 12,000 people that work for us, but the communities that rely on us to do the right thing. And I think that they're going to look back on this decade ahead, especially between 2020 and 2030 as a transformative period for the communities that we're doing business in, as well as the resource themselves. So I think it is a really exciting time and we're, we're hitting high gear right now and coming out of the pandemic, knock on wood. You know, if this winter is not a disaster, which I don't expect it to be, we're going to be in really good shape to execute on all these visions and plans that we have.

Michael Anselmi: 30:57

Talking about a leader, but also a personal question: What are your goals for the season as a leader, but also as a skier?

Stephen Kircher: 31:04

Stay open with the core recreation that we provide and do it safely and responsibly. I think that's the baseline. I think many people have articulated that across the industry and individually, if we can stay open and obviously satisfied our core customers, our season pass holders, many of the people that have homes and condominiums in our respective communities, you know, that that want to be out there recreating, wanna be out there doing something safe. If we can navigate this at that level, we're going to have a decent season. And that's good enough to maintain our momentum and be able to double down on reinvestments and continue our ascent. So vaccines are down the road here in coming months, and it's going to change the outcome for next summer. I think things would be more normal next summer than they were last summer, probably pretty close to normal, hopefully. So we just get through these next three or four months and do it safely and responsibly, which I think we're prepared to do, but we're going to have to be flexible and we're gonna have to maintain a posture of good communication and engagement with our customers so that they do the right thing as well along with us. As we've said, don't be the reason that we lose a season. We do not want to be in that position. So that's maybe a sub goal. We don't want to be the reason.

Michael Anselmi: 32:18

What have been your proudest moments as a CEO/President?

Stephen Kircher: 32:22

I would almost say this pandemic, and then how we had handled the malware issue as well, which is, you know, we're kind of healing from both of those situations, but how far we've come and how the team rallied around itself and executed, and really went into a very comfortable focused mode and being a leader of a team that is performing at a high level is a proud moment. I mean, it said a lot about how far we've come. Not that we haven't been able to do that in the past, but I really felt that these two gut blows we took show just how far we've come. It's almost like we took it in stride like a boxer. We know we just got hammered right in the gut and took it and we're ready to go again. So that's a proud moment that is certainly recent. And, you know, the other would be obviously the fact that we've been able to garner the support of, worldwide, some of the largest and most respected investment groups have purchased our corporate bonds. In fact, that we've matured the point where we are a company that's respected and performing well. I mean, our bonds are trading at extraordinarily positive levels and people have a lot of confidence in us. That is a validation that we as a team and what we're doing is working. You know, we're certainly lucky to be in a positive industry. As I said earlier, I think a lot of people are looking at our space as a good place to be, but we're doing a really good job relative to our peer group within that space. And the bond markets are saying that. So from a CEO perspective, you know, looking at how the bond markets look at us, I mean, that's a validation as well. Obviously many of our team members don't realize what that maybe means, but, you know, we have the capacity to raise capital. Like we've never been able to do in the past at lower rate. And that fuels our potential to be competitive with the largest players in the industry, which we're one of, but we're not the largest, but we have the cost of capital now that's actually less than the biggest player, which is a pretty great validation, at least on paper, it is. But, you know, our next, if we go to the markets in the future, hopefully we'll still not be in that position.

Michael Anselmi: 34:30

What are your biggest challenges as a CEO and president?

Stephen Kircher: 34:34

I think maintaining balance, you know, for all, any leader is, you know, you get too centered around who you are as a leader, me as CEO of Boyne versus me as myself as a person who I am and who I am as a father and a husband. And balancing those things are certainly something that I've done a better and better job of, but it's still something I've got to keep working on and making sure that stays in balance and it doesn't get off tilt and realizing when it's time to delegate. You know, when is it time to have less direct reports, if you will. A couple of years ago, I went from 22 to 13 and it took me some time to get to that point of figuring out well, that's too many people to give my time to, and maybe I'm not effective as I should be if I've got 13. So how do we, as an organization, set ourselves up for success, and how does my role and minor play with the key leadership affect that and making sure that I'm being introspective enough and sober enough and getting the right input to make the right decisions about who should lead the company in certain aspects, succession planning, certainly a focus of ours. And am I spending enough time on that? Making sure that we're growing our future leaders, because many of the people on this phone and elsewhere in the organization are going to be our future leaders of this company. And that's important that we nurture that developing great people is another core value. We've talked about a lot and that's about succession plan. It's about recruiting great people. It's about developing great people, about training, it's about communicating. I think this podcast is a piece of that is engaging with our teams so that we have everybody on the same page, as much as possible.

Nick Lambert: 36:07

All right, Stephen. We're going to dig in a little bit here. What's something that you think our team members would be surprised to learn about you?

Stephen Kircher: 36:14

Well, I've become more liberal probably on the political spectrum than anyone had ever thought I would have been. And I voted for Joe Biden for the first time, I voted for a D on the ticket. So that's something that might be surprising if, you know, knowing my father and others in my family, that would have been like the last thing you would have expected. But I think things have changed so much in our political theater that I feel I'm a realist, but that might be surprising, I can go in other different directions, but that that's one that might surprise people. I'm actually proud of it because I think it's a signal that we need to change the way we're leading this country and the way we're engaging with each other in a respectful manner, we need to tell the truth, like my father said, that you're open and honest with people, you don't lie and you don't manipulate the truth or the facts for your personal gain. That's not how we are as a company. And that's not how we should be as a country. And I believe my vote was for someone who didn't do that at the core. So it was country over party from my perspective. So that's one area I'll tee up for you..

Michael Anselmi: 37:19

Fair enough. Back to your passions. What's your favorite ski run in the world? You just look forward to it once a year. It's memorable.

Stephen Kircher: 37:26

Interesting question. I tried to slow myself down by the way, because at 56, I'm right in the sweet spot of when people get hurt the most going fast. So I bought slalom skis to try to slow my pace down and tighten my turns. And with that, I am a groomer centric either on my carving board or on my race skis. So it would be one of the great groomers we have in this company. And, you know, I'm in Montana right now, so one that comes to mind is Elk Park Ridge, which is just a phenomenal groomer, usually in the sunshine in the morning, which helps obviously visibility. And usually the snow is perfect in the morning there. And that probably, if I was to pick one out of thousand runs, we've got across the company, I don''t know how many we've got, but, 1500. That would be one I would put on top of my list, Elk Park Ridge, which is a groomed slope in the sunlight in the morning on a sunny day. And it's not a powder day. It's not, I wouldn't say it's a powder day. It would be a cold 10 degree night where the groomers set it up perfectly. So that would be my perfect ski run.

Michael Anselmi: 38:35

What about your favorite golf course or golf hole in the world?

Stephen Kircher: 38:39

Ah, let's see. My favorite golf course in the world. Now Pine Valley, I really, really love going to, I got to admit that as my favorite golf course in the world. But playing the Heather, which is at Boyne Highlands is certainly one of my most cherished moments. I get the same feeling, teeing it up on the Heather. I do every time I have ever done it over the last 40 to 50 years, 40, 45 years, I guess it's been teed up there first time from a whole perspective. Gosh, that is a hard one to answer it. It depends how I'm hitting it. What I like, I take their day, but those two golf courses come to mind.

Nick Lambert: 39:17

How about this. Let's take it back a few years. What was the first concert you went to?

Stephen Kircher: 39:25

My first?

Nick Lambert: 39:25

First concert.

Stephen Kircher: 39:25

It was either Loverboy or REO Speedwagon at The Castle in Charlevoix, I would think was one of the, I don't know which one was first, but that's my recollection. I was probably 16. Cause I don't think I was allowed to go earlier than 16. It might've been 16 or 17 years old and I didn't drink at that time either. So I was a good boy.

Nick Lambert: 39:51

Either of those are better answers than we were hoping for. I'm going to go with Loverboy in my mind.

Stephen Kircher: 39:57

The red leather, remember the red leather and the whole bit, I can just, I could see the concert and you know, we didn't have a lot of choices at The Castle, what you went to, you went to whatever was coming that summer. Right? And uh, if you knew of them, you went. So I think that's, that's what we had to go to Loverboy.

Nick Lambert: 40:13

Perfect.

Michael Anselmi: 40:14

Well, just to close out we have a couple of questions left. And you can be honest or you can lie on this one. We're not going to hold you to it.

Stephen Kircher: 40:21

By the way, I didn't really like Loverboy. Just for the record.

Nick Lambert: 40:23

It's okay. You don't have to backpedal. It's all right. We have it on tape.

Stephen Kircher: 40:26

Yeah, exactly.

Michael Anselmi: 40:27

Of all the resorts, the Boyne family, which resort is your favorite? And I mean, there could be some nuance for everyone. And I know this is putting you in a spot because I know you love all of them.

Stephen Kircher: 40:38

Yeah. I mean, that's like, that it really is like asking what's your favorite child and that's an answer you can't give. I mean, I honestly don't, you know, it's like, okay, if you're President of the United States, what's your favorite state of the union? I mean, if you were to say it's Delaware, you're going to be, you know, I don't think I mentally have, I mean, clearly I have, my DNA is in Michigan, right? I'm at home, obviously Boyne Mountain. That's where I learned to ski Hemlock run, you know, is, is the run. I skied, you know, a thousand times down the mogul run down the left side, lookers left on the lift, those moments I have in my head. But in terms of how I got to look at this company, I really do look at it agnostically. I don't have a favorite. And as I look at the capital plan, I don't look at it that way. It's not like where's my favorite place. It's what has the best opportunity for the future? So that's how I've tried to look at it. I mean, clearly I'm probably conflicted in many decisions and whatnot, but that's how I have processed at my head to try to be that way. It's a very political way of being, but I, you know, I think I've got to at least mentally try to do that. So I don't have a favorite, damn it.

Michael Anselmi: 41:47

Speaking to the returns and the future, and you're excited. These 10 year plans are amazing, right? We look at them and we just dream new lifts, new lodges, just where we're going. It's exciting. Bigger picture, smaller picture. What is exciting to you about the future? Is there specific details or is it just the big, broader plan of where we're going?

Stephen Kircher: 42:05

You know, I've really tried to, again, almost the same kind of introspective ways is enjoy the journey. Enjoy each step. Pine about, oh, I can't wait till that happens. Or when that, I mean really just enjoy the incremental-ism, the journey of that process because 10 years comes and goes, and then it's going to be on to the next vision. And I think for all of us, I think we just got to enjoy, you know, that new system that we can make it easier for online ordering or if it is a bubble, the big stuff, obviously we get more excited about, we can point to, but it's a thousand little things too, that we, our little successes that are are important. That's what I think I'm excited about is the ability to really push along so many different things and enjoy that process as we improve and keep building momentum as we go, because these plans are really, you know, they're visions, but they're going to be adapted and they're going to adjust over time. So I think as we navigate towards that vision, we're going to see new opportunities that we're going to pivot to, and we're going to enjoy those opportunities. Now, Nick, obviously you've been involved in Tennessee recently and what has transformed down there and what that means to not only Tennessee, but the rest of the company, the successes that Tennessee has seen is going to be a great, amazing fuel for the company's future and the opportunities there are astounding beyond where we are right now. So enjoying those successes and enjoying those record days, or that net promoter score that hit a new high, you know, in a restaurant or whatever it is. Those are what I'm excited about is those days when we hit those high water marks. And when we recruit that great person away from somebody else that we didn't think we could have gotten, or this person applies to become a chef at this restaurant that we didn't know was out there because they heard about us. Those are successes. I get excited about.

Nick Lambert: 44:03

Stephen, thanks for coming on the podcast, sharing some insights about you and about the company has been great to listen along.

Stephen Kircher: 44:08

Great. Thank you for the opportunity.

Michael Anselmi: 44:10

Wow. That was awesome. Great kickoff to the Boyne Employee podcast. We have a lot to look forward to this season and it was great to kick off with these two big hitters.

Nick Lambert: 44:19

Those guys are awesome. I enjoy speaking to them. I think they're both great. Do you think we could use Loverboy as a codename for Stephen moving forward or is that that's probably frowned upon?

Michael Anselmi: 44:27

Possibly, but maybe we should just take a survey of all Boyne employees and just go from there.

Nick Lambert: 44:32

I like it. Crowdsource it. Where do we take it from here?

Michael Anselmi: 44:36

Next month? Cathy Witherspoon.

Nick Lambert: 44:39

Cathy's awesome. Chief Human Resource Officer. I will say that if we're ever going to get in trouble on this little podcast, it's probably with her. So we'll see how it goes.

Michael Anselmi: 44:49

First one went well, second one may end it. We'll just have to see.

Nick Lambert: 44:52

It's going to be a good way to kick off the new year. Sayonara 2020, welcome 2021. With the love of God, it can't be any worse.

Michael Anselmi: 45:00

Be safe and speak soon.

Nick Lambert: 45:02

Happy New Year.