Rob Perlman: at home with Ski Country USA.

• Author: Bronikowski, Lynn
• Position: Executive Edge

ROB PERLMAN WAS LESS THAN 2 YEARS old when he strapped on his first pair of skis in the backyard of the family home in Illinois.

Not long afterward he was hooked on the sport that would become his lifetime career.

"My family moved to Colorado a few years later where my dad was a ski instructor, a weekend warrior at Loveland Ski Area," said the new president and CEO of Colorado Ski Country USA, the industry trade group representing 24 Colorado resorts. "My older brother and I would tag along at the end of his class and learn to ski."

At 32, Perlman is the youngest person to take the helm of Colorado's marketing and public-policy organization -- something he says is a statement in itself about the direction Ski Country is headed, "We're taking a younger approach, a fresher approach to attract the youth market to winter snow sports," said Penman, who admits that although he conquered snowboarding in two days, he still prefers skiing.

His passion for skiing goes back to grade school when Perlman raced on the Winter Park ski team and later would attend the University of Arizona through the summer months so he could take winters off to ski and work in Winter Park.

"I would go from 110 degrees in the desert to the icebox of the nation in Fraser," said Penman. "But it gave me a chance to ski every day, even if it was just one run to keep my streak alive."

With a degree in business administration from Arizona, Penman got his foot in the door at Mammoth Mountain Ski Area in California, where he worked as a snow reporter and marketing assistant. Soon, however, a public relations job at Winter Park Resort beckoned him home.

"I thought I'd be at Winter Park for life," said Perlman. "I was coming home."

But after 18 months, Vail called offering...