In the world of business, mergers and acquisitions go hand-in-hand with layoffs and restructuring – the ski industry is no exception. With the ink barely dry on the 1.4 billion purchase, Vail Resorts announced yesterday it will be eliminating 60 jobs at Whistler Blackcomb. Rob Katz, Vail CEO, announced that these positions will now be carried out at the corporate offices in Vail, Colorado. Impacted positions include those in finance, accounting, IT, sales and marketing.
“We did know that there would be some areas where the corporate efforts of the two companies would be duplicative and certain positions would be impacted. It is also important for you to know that there are no planned changes in other areas of resort operations including: mountain operations and maintenance, guest services, rental/retail, food and beverage, snow school or employee experience.”
Dave Brownlie, Chief Operating Officer for Whistler/Blackcomb
The majority of the positions eliminated will not take effect until the end of the current 2016/2017 season. Some specific restructuring details include:
- Stuart Rempel, WB senior vice president of marketing and sales, leaving his position on Dec. 2, 2016
- Jeremy Black, senior vice president and chief financial officer, also leave on Dec. 2, 2016
- Karla Grenon, general manager of marketing, will oversee WB brand, creative and content development and product marketing
- Flora Ferraro, vice president of finance, will oversee the resort finance activities for WB
- Ian Jenkins, general manager of sales, will take a new role overseeing international sales efforts for all Vail Resorts
- David Wilcox, will take on the role of senior manager of treasury and strategic development analyst for all of Vail Resorts
But it’s not all business as usual here. The announcement, sent to employees via email, also stated that positions may be available to those impacted at other Vail properties across North America. The company would pay for the relocation and visa’s for any employee found to be a good fit elsewhere.
