Hanold Associates recruited Lynanne Kunkel as Chief Human Resources Officer. Vail Resorts is the premier mountain resort company in the world and a leader in luxury, destination-based travel at iconic locations. They operate well-known ski resorts like Vail, Beaver Creek and Breckenridge in Colorado; Park City, Utah; Heavenly Mountain Resort in Lake Tahoe, California; Whistler Ski Resort, British Columbia and Perisher Ski Resort in New South Wales, Australia. With a product of the great outdoors, their mission is Experience of a Lifetime which they provide through their mountain, lodging and real estate operations. Vail employs over 10,000 annual seasonal employees, 3,700 full-time employees and had over $1.6 billion in revenue in 2016.
Ms. Kunkel will start her new role on May 2017 at the company’s headquarters in Broomfield, Colorado where she’ll report to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rob Katz. As chief human resources officer, Ms. Kunkel will be responsible for overseeing all aspects of Vail Resorts’ talent-related functions and management across the company’s global operations. She will be an integral member of the executive leadership team and contribute to the strategy, competitive advantage, execution and risk management of the company.
Ms. Kunkel was most recently with Whirlpool Corporation as senior vice president of global human resources.
“Vail Resorts leadership team is incredibly driven and talented with consistently strong results and big aspirations. Lynanne is that special high-caliber leader who aligns perfectly with this team and growth scenario,” said Jason Hanold, CEO of Hanold Associates, who led the search. Mr. Hanold previously led the search for the current incumbent, Mark Gasta, who was in the role for over nine years. He also led the search for Gasta’s incumbent.
Hanold Associates is a boutique retained executive search firm specializing in HR officer assignments and serving clients such as Patagonia, REI, Nike, UFC, Live Nation Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Marvin Companies, Medtronic, Fiat-Chrysler, Godiva, eBay, Northwestern, Fossil, Carnival Corporation, Northwestern Medicine, Cummins and Moderna Therapeutics among others.
