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Jensen Takes The Helm At NSAA, Fair Winds Ahead?

By J.D. O'Connor
June 26, 2006

Before starting the grueling, 419-mile ride from New Mexico to Colorado, Jensen summed up the journey's considerable challenge in typical Jensen fashion: "Ten days of fun and fellowship," he said. "Can't wait."

This stoic implacability has served Jensen well. He believes it will help him take NSAA forward during the two years he will serve as chairman of its board of directors.

"It came to me in my third season that working in the ski industry was a path that I would follow," he said last week. "I knew then that it wasn't about status, prestige or money, but rather making a difference. That view has been my guiding light for my 32 year career. At 53 you finally realize you have worked 32 years in order to make a difference for the last 12."

Jensen, who replaces Wachusett Mountain's Dave Crowley as NSAA chair, has a lot on his plate. As co-president of Vail Resorts Mountain Division, he is responsible for management oversight of Vail, Beaver Creek and Heavenly Ski Resorts. In addition, he is the COO of Vail Ski Resort, responsible for all operations and business activity.

Prior "bullets" on the "past experience" portion of his curriculum vitae include stints at the helm of resorts from California to Colorado. Chairing NSAA, he says, brings with it a fair number of challenges - obstacles Jensen says he will overcome with help from Crowley, the NSAA vice-chair, and staff.

Industry Report asked Jensen what lies ahead for NSAA and the ski industry in general.

"One of our major challenges is that the industry isn't one big industry," he said. "It is composed of several hundred ski areas and several different regions, all with different challenges, and those challenges, be it weather or economic, are not the same in the Pacific Northwest as they are in New England."

Jensen laughed off an allusion to an Eisenhower or Schwarzkopf trying to keep a diverse coalition moving forward.

"The happy fact of the matter is that the ski industry in the last three or four years, with the exception of weather challenges in a region or two, has been doing well both in terms of skier participation and economic gain. The Kottke (National End of Season) Survey bears this out. It certainly appears that the next five years might be some of the best years in the history of the industry."

Still, there's work to be done and Jensen said he's prepared to roll up his sleeves.

"Diversity has been an area we've been working on, a few regions are making progress but there hasn't been an industry-wide approach," he said. "NSAA has supported the educational side and the industry view is that it's a good thing to try and reach out to ethnic populations around the country."

Jensen said the industry has benefitted in recent years from pre-9-11 investment in infrastructure and better marketing, but he added that "we can be more responsible to the changes in the marketplace, environmental issues, diversity, and skier safety."

"Actually, this year was better than most in terms of skier safety, unless you happened to live in California," he said.

As for the "hot button" topic of the year for ski area owners and operators, Jensen says NSAA plans to support individual resorts who position themselves as leaders in the fight against greenhouse emissions and global warming.

"My hope is that if we do it well the industry as a whole will be perceived as business leaders with respect to the issue... and that is something for which we would be ideally suited."

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Comments

	Bill Jensen is an example of the type of leadership our industry needs. I have always found him to be very bright, fair and driven. I sincerely hope he can be much more then the NSAA's presidential figure head.
	Posted by: Peter W. | June 26, 2006 02:40 PM