Executive edge: Rob Katz: first day was Vail exec's worst day: calling employees off the mountain.

AuthorBronikowski, Lynn
PositionAttitude at Altitude - Rob Katz- Vail Resorts Inc.

Rob Katz's first day as chief executive officer of Vail Resorts Inc., was one of his worst. He had to tell 100 corporate employees the company headquarters was moving from the mountains to suburban Broomfield.

He did it without hesitation, knowing from a business standpoint it was better for the public company to operate out of a metropolitan area near business and transportation resources than tucked away in Avon, outside Vail.

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"Change is tough, especially when there's a perception that it's made for you," said Katz, 39, who last February was named CEO of Vail Resorts.

"People were taken aback because where you live is important in people's lives. You can have all the business rationales in the world, but we didn't try to tell people they are going to like this news.

"The first day was the worst, but within a month or two, the move had receded as an issue and I've since witnessed a re-invigorating of excitement in people's careers."

Vail Resorts lost only a few employees who chose to stay in the mountains. When the company held a job fair in Lakewood for 25 corporate jobs, 1,500 people showed up.

"We had to have police control traffic, and we received so many resumes from people saying working for Vail would be a dream job."

For Katz, heading up a company that includes five ski areas, lodging properties, six golf course resorts, extensive real estate holdings in Summit and Eagle counties and 125 retail shops, is a dream job.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in economics in 1988 from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, he headed to Wall Street where he was in mergers and acquisitions at the now defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert before becoming a senior partner in Apollo Management, which took Vail public in 1997 and remains a major shareholder.

"I had a fairly long career on Wall Street where I got to oversee other companies--Vail being one of them," said Katz. "It was an exciting job but I thought long ago that something was missing when you're back in the background instead of actually being at the company with longer-term relationships with all the people, the executives. The part of this job that is the same is the strategy direction. But the part...

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