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Where Are They Now? Former Pro Racer Cory Carlson: 'Don't Mess With Sales Incentives'

By Craig Altschul
May 04, 2009

(Editor's Note: This is the first in an occasional series of features that will answer the question perhaps you've asked: "Where are they now?")

Cory Carlson's biggest concern these days is not beating the guy next to him down the bruising dual race courses of the memorable World Pro Ski Tour. His focus is squarely on getting his chunk of market share as Associate Director of Sales for the Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa and Casino at Incline Village.

"We're in the same predicament as everyone else," he told The Industry Report during a break from the sales intention that marked the Mountain Travel Symposium in Keystone last month. "We have to be reactive to what drives business in times like these - value, price and service levels. There's less market to capture so we each have to get as much of it as possible."

The trend this year of incentive travel being cut back because of "how it might look," particularly after the much-publicized (and criticized) AIG events, gets his attention.

"Group business is suffering and it's all perception," he says. "Companies are afraid to let their employees travel to conferences for rewards. The current administration initially fueled this situation.

"It's a difficult situation. We need to have our voice heard in Washington. It's counter-productive to sales production in the economy, particularly to those where income is based on sales. Postponing meetings or scaling them way down has a major ripple effect on all resort personal and their services, from bellmen to housekeepers.

"The bottom line is you can't have top producers not incentive-based, as it will just lead to unmotivated employees. That's not going to help anybody," he told us.

Carlson's story in the ski world began at tiny Buck Hill, 10 miles south of Minneapolis. He joined the racing program in 1969, the same year Austrian Erich Sailer arrived to turn the Buck Hill Racing Club into arguably one of the most successful grassroots programs ever. Sailer, now 83, was inducted into the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame in 2006, and is still running the Buck Hill Racing Club show.

Carlson was among the first to graduate from the club to the U.S. Ski Team in 1978. If you're counting: Buck Hill grads have won 68 gold, 47 silver, and 32 bronze medals at Junior Olympics and Junior Nationals.

Alumni who made it to the Ski Team include Carlson, Lori Greeley, Susan Holes, Mike Meleski, Biere Marceau, Joe Levins, Tim Hanson, Kristina Koznick, Martina Sailer, Tasha Nelson, Sterling Grant, Michael Ankey and current superstar Lindsey Vonn. Buck Hill team members have won more than 100 FIS races.

Still, sometimes it's tough to catch the lead dog. Carlson's timing on the Ski Team made that virtually impossible. He made the Ski Team roster the year taciturn Swede Ingemar Stenmark literally went undefeated, blowing away the rest of the world's wannabes. Stenmark actually won 86 World Cup races in his astounding career.

It didn't get much better for Carlson, and his American contemporaries such as John Buxman, Mark Tache, Bob Ormsby, and Terry Ahola. They were caught behind the twin juggernaut of Phil and Steve Mahre, arguably the top American racers in history. Still, he managed Europa Cup wins in Hallein, Austria, and Piancavallo, Italy.

Carlson made his mark, however, on the World Pro Ski Tour, primarily for his leadership ability - he chaired the Racers Board at the peak of the tour. His ability to communicate easily and effectively with the media and sponsors made him invaluable on the tour. He also worked the television booth on numerous occasions as a color commentator.

"The Pro Tour was a true test of endurance," he said. "We had five opponents in one day and a total of 10 runs. By the time I got there, the Pro Tour was already a fixture in the U.S. when Bob Beattie ran it as the Benson & Hedges Pro Ski Tour with Billy Kidd, Spider Sabich, and even Jean-Claude Killy.

"It seemed really glamorous when I joined the tour - all the commercial signage everywhere, crowds and sponsors - it was really exciting," Carlson remembers. Ed Rogers and Mike Collins had teamed up to run the tour by then. Carlson met his future wife, Chris (Richards), on the tour. The Carlsons have a young daughter, Catrina. Richards was the tour's director of marketing, but she was literally the one who kept the entire operation humming.

"People forget how good the racing really was," Carlson says. "There were literally six Olympic gold medalists competing on the 1989-90 tour, including the Mahre twins."

The years on the World Pro Ski Tour were memorable for Carlson, for the racers, resorts that hosted the events, sponsors and media who regularly covered the circuit (including this reporter).

The tour held its own from the early days of ESPN, and eventually moved to syndication, as the cost associated with TV production escalated. New competition came from freestyle, moguls, extreme skiing, and snowboarding. The tour budget had grown exponentially to $15 million dollars and races were staged in New Zealand, France, Austria and Japan. The tour was history by 1995.

Carlson joined the sales team at the Hyatt Hotel in Beaver Creek (now the Park Hyatt Beaver Creek Resort and Spa) because "hospitality seemed a natural fit for me." He spent 10 years there before moving to his current position in 2006 at Hyatt's Lake Tahoe property. He expects the next stop to be sales director at another Hyatt hotel or resort.

What It Means: Ski racing can indeed be the front door into an important career. Carlson, who has long been one of America's most personable racing personalities, seems to have chosen the ideal career path - even if he doesn't get summers off anymore. Where are they now? Stick with us.

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Comments

Cory, and then with Chris, are two of the fondest memories I have of the Pro Tour (which Jill Wing and I sold to Ed Rogers to make it grow along with his Tour). Cory was/is a wonderful diplomat and managed to undo bad situations into positive ones more than once in those years and on into his first years at the Hyatt in Beaver Creek. Chris was/is a perfect match in her capabilities to handle a variety of personalities and keep the project moving forward....no matter what it is!! I can only be happy I was there at the beginning and wish both of them nothing but success and happiness in their work and family life............ EXCELSIOR!!.......Tony

Posted by: Tony Furman | May 4, 2009 09:58 AM