East Burke, Vermont — In the latest sign that Burke Mountain is gearing up for a great comeback, the Vermont ski resort is bringing in a tenured leadership team.
Yesterday, Burke Mountain Resort announced its new leadership structure, which follows its sale to Bear Den Partners this spring. Tom Day, who apparently doesn’t like retirement, will serve as the interim General Manager beginning on June 6th. Day worked at Waterville Valley for decades, eventually becoming its General Manager from 1997 to 2010. After retiring from Waterville, he assisted companies through transitions for years. In 2020, he was hired as General Manager at Gunstock Mountain Resort. It was undoubtedly a noteworthy tenure there, but his time at Gunstock is regarded as a huge success. During his time at the Lakes Region ski resort, he helped increase skier visits by 29%, increased revenue by 60%, and helped implement $18 million in capital improvements.
“It’s always an exciting thing to see an independent New England business have the opportunity to create a sustainable future for its staff and guests,” said Day. “Honestly, unretiring again to help Burke in this transition was an easy decision. It’s what I love to do. I bring a lot of energy to my work and I hope that integrates into the overall ethos at Burke. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the team and getting started.”
Kevin Mack, who’s been the GM at Burke for the past decade, will serve as the Vice President of Transition Services. This will include watching over business services at the ski resort, which includes the hotel.
The other major hire is bringing in Kevin Fortier as CFO. He’s helped grow Pete and Gerry’s Organic Eggs in New Hampshire from a local brand to a national name. This included growing the finance, supply chain, and operations sectors of the business.
Bear Den Partners is also bringing in various advisors. This includes Victor Waryas (for business development, marketing, and programming), Matt Arrants (20+ years of experience in the hospitality industry), Howard Wein (food and beverage operations), and Melissa Gullotti (for marketing and communications).
“I’m honored by how quickly and professionally this task force jumped into the mix,” said Jon Schaefer, a ski industry veteran who’s part of Bear Den Partners. “They are all here to make everyone’s jobs at Burke easier and to usher through a quick transition to our new course for the resort, while leaving intact the existing operating team. Plus each of them is a skier, snowboarder, biker who loves the resort, the region and KT, and is motivated to see the mountain flourish. I personally couldn’t be more proud to have such an awesome team of staff and consultants to rally around our vision for Burke Mountain.”
Burke Mountain is set to have a busy summer, with a big focus on infrastructure improvements. A video from yesterday shows that new snowmaking pipe is starting to trickle in at Burke. Today, they revealed that the Mid-Burke Express chairlift’s motor is being repaired.
Image/Video Credits: Burke Mountain Resort
