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Jarnot promoted to oversee Colorado resorts; Lovell to take reins at Vail

BROOMFIELD — Vail Mountain’s chief operating officer, Chris Jarnot, will move to a new role of mountain division executive vice president, Vail Resorts said Wednesday.

Jarnot, 49, will oversee the company’s four Colorado resorts: Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone, as well as provide continued oversight of the operations of Perisher in Australia, Afton Alps in Minnesota, Mt. Brighton in Michigan, and Wilmot Mountain in Wisconsin.

Succeeding Jarnot at Vail Mountain will be Doug Lovell, 58, the current chief operating officer at Beaver Creek.

Simultaneous to Lovell’s move to Vail, Beth Howard, 53, the current Northstar general manager and a 30-year veteran of Beaver Creek and Vail Resorts, will become the next Beaver Creek chief operating officer.

“Specifically, with the official close of the Whistler Blackcomb acquisition earlier this week, the company is scaling the organization with a leadership structure that aligns to recent and future expansion and creates new opportunities for several experienced leaders at the company,” Vail Resorts said in a release.

Jarnot joined Vail Resorts in 1985 and has been the Vail Mountain chief operating officer since 2008. He will continue to report to mountain division president Patricia Campbell and office at Vail Resorts’ headquarters in Broomfield.

“During Chris’ 31-year tenure with Vail Resorts, he has exemplified the superior business leadership and has earned the trust of our employees and confidence from the community while continuing to drive an exceptional guest experience that Vail is known for around the world,” Campbell said. “I fully expect Chris to continue to elevate the operations and guest and employee experience across all of the resorts that are now included in his responsibilities.”

Prior to 2008, Jarnot was responsible for marketing and sales across Vail Resorts’ mountain resorts as well as its hotel and property management businesses, including the RockResorts hotel brand. Raised in the Vail Valley, he has held numerous positions with the company since 1985, starting out in guest services at Beaver Creek and later as director of advertising and direct marketing, director of reservations and vice president of marketing for Vail and Beaver Creek.

Lovell joined Vail Resorts in 1994 and has significant experience in mountain operations at Beaver Creek and Keystone. He was at the helm of Keystone before returning to Beaver Creek in 2010 as the resort’s chief operating officer.

Howard began her career with Vail Resorts in 1985 as a college intern at Beaver Creek and, for nearly three decades, she increased her leadership and operational oversight of mountain dining across all of the Company’s resorts, including more than 100 restaurants and eight private mountain and golf clubs. She was promoted to lead Northstar in 2014 and is returning to Beaver Creek after two years leading the guest and employee experience at the Lake Tahoe resort. The company will immediately begin a search for Howard’s replacement at Northstar.

“These leadership changes across our mountain division speak to the expertise and commitment that Chris, Doug and Beth each possess,” said Rob Katz, chairman and chief executive officer. “Their collective nearly 100 years of experience at Vail Resorts says something about the opportunities they have sought during their tenure with the Company as well as their personal and professional passion to not only be a part of, but to leave a lasting legacy upon, this industry.”


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