Mr. Chris von Imhof.

• Author: Gallion, Mari
• Position: SPECIAL SECTION: Junior Achievement--2014 Laureate

Chris von Imhof grew up the Bavarian ski resort town of Garmisch-Partrenkirchen in southern Germany. Although he lost both parents before he reached adulthood--his father when he was three and his mother when he was fifteen--he had an "uncle" Hans Killian, his father's best friend before his father perished in World War II, who owned a special hotel, The Parkhotel Alpenhof, in von Imhof's town. Killian took von Imhof under his wing and assured his mother that he would bring him up in the industry and teach him everything he knew.

"It was very actively involved in sports," von Imhof recalls of the hotel during his youth. "And I had many times lunched there. I really loved the hotel, seeing the people come and go--and so I decided that was the business I wanted to get involved in.

"It was also quite popular with American visitors," yon Imhof says. "At that time the exchange for the dollar to the German mark was very, very favorable--so I wanted to go to America and see what it was like in the land of milk and honey."

Von Imhof went to winter hotel management school for a period of time and then met an American family who sponsored him to come to the United States. Not sure of how long he would stay, von Imhof got a job at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, thus starting a long and satisfying career in the US hotel and tourism industry.

An Impressive Resume

Von Imhof's accomplishments since his job at the Beverly Hilton include his role as Alaska sales manager for Scandinavian Airlines, chairman of the Hawaii Hotel Association, general manager for the Maui Prince Hotel, president of the Alaska Tourism Industry Association, and director of tourism for the State of Alaska--although not necessarily in that order. Most people can glean from this resume that von Imhof lives and breathes travel.

But his biggest business accomplishments occurred while he was CEO and managing director of the Alyeska Resort, which provided his instrumental role in turning Alyeska ski resort from a small, struggling local ski hill into a world-class resort.

"The total growth and development over thirty to forty years of building up Alyeska Resort from a little ski area to a year-round destination resort is what I take a lot of pride in," von Imhof says. "When I semi-retired, the Alaska Legislature gave me a certificate that recognized me for my many years of service in Girdwood at Alyeska. I take pride in getting that recognition for all the things I did at the...