“When I went to Dave’s office to meet the gentleman,” remembers Murphy, “he said, ‘Don’t you have a man who knows about business who can take me?’ Dave’s answer was, ‘Pam knows more about it than any of us, and if you don’t want to go with her, then there is no tour.’ I ended up taking him on a tour and we had a great time and became friends after that, but his first reaction was a surprise to me.”
In the male-dominated ski industry such incidents used to be commonplace. Murphy remains the only female GM of a large ski resort in the country, but without a lot of fanfare, women are steadily breaking into ski resort upper management positions. At the six major Tahoe resorts that comprise the co-operative marketing group Ski Lake Tahoe (Squaw Valley, Alpine Meadows, Northstar-at-Tahoe, Sierra-at-Tahoe, Kirkwood and Heavenly) the female gender sits atop most, if not all, marketing and public relations positions. Diligent, bright and far from girlish, their influence and position is blossoming alongside the California ski boom.
“They’re doing a superlative job,” says Bob Roberts, executive director of the California Ski Industry Association. “This is a male-intensive industry. It takes a strong personality and tough inner skills for these women to hold their own. They are very strong, resilient people who wear the same uniform as everyone else.”
Historically, ski area publicity was originally handled by foreign-accented ski school directors who, knowing details about the resort’s weather, snowfalls and particular slopes, could talk up the place at ski expositions. Eventually, marketing a ski resort demanded more attention and evolved into a year-round department. Women, already dissuaded from gaining a foothold in male-dominated ski environments were relegated to lower-level assistant positions, reception duties or reciting early-morning ski and weather reports over the phone.
“I started in 1974, and can assure you that there were few women doing anything in marketing,” says Murphy. “Almost everyone I worked with was a male ski instructor who was filling in for marketing during the off season.” Over 25 years, Murphy climbed Mammoth’s hierarchy by graduating to communications director then assistant marketing director, and director of marketing for the High Sierra resort before being named vice-president and general manager three years ago.
“After assuming the director of marketing position at Mammoth, I was assigned the chairperson of the Marketing Committee for the National Ski Areas Association,” Murphy adds. “I decided that it would be a great idea to have some other women on the committee to balance the male-dominated group. When I searched every resort that was a member of the NSAA, there were only five that had women as marketing directors. Julie Maurer and I from California, Keri Cooper from Jackson Hole, Kathy DeGree from Mount Bachelor and Paula Shelton from Winter Park.”
Nowadays, the California ski marketing landscape looks very different. Although there are no statistics to back up the trend nationwide, at Tahoe the gender gap has undergone considerable change. Women have broken through to positions of real power, jobs whose toques once sat atop a monolithic Y-chromosome.
Photo by Robyn Scarton
In the Tahoe area, Northstar, Squaw Valley, Diamond Peak, Boreal and Sierra-at-Tahoe each have a woman directing their marketing efforts. Julie Maurer, once director of marketing at Northstar, now is vice president of sales and marketing for all Booth Creek, Inc.-owned resorts around the country.
It hasn’t been an easy transformation, and one of the toughest battles for women has been achieving equal pay and respect from their male peers.
“While overall I feel the industry has accepted me as a competent person, no matter the position I have been in, there have been (and sometimes still are) times of resistance from males in the industry,” says Maurer, “especially from outside the area resorts or in the manufacturing (lifts, cats, etc.) side of our industry.”
Workers of both sexes point out that a certain amount of hazing still takes place in the professional workplace. Such hazing may be subtle or overt, but as in many competitive arenas, workers must sometimes prove their skills before finding acceptance.
Photo by Robyn Scarton
“Women today have more advantages than our mothers did,” says Northstar’s communications director, Erin Bernall. “We were brought up with the understanding that we could have any job, obtain higher education and live independently. Achieving those things is bound to create opportunity and enhance confidence.”
Everyone interviewed for this story, male or female, agree the workplace has improved, in part because of the existence of women marketers, in part because of economic necessity and in part because of demanding higher job education.
The days of starting as a lift attendant and working your way into management are long gone. Ski resorts compete against cruise ships, amusement parks, Club Med and tropical vacations. Marketing a resort demands strategic planning, organization, identifying objectives, decision making and transformational leadership. Today’s ski marketing administrators have college degrees, typically with an emphasis in journalism and public relations.
“Women are traditionally good communicators so the PR role definitely fits our gender,” says Kirkwood’s Nicole Belt. “Most of my PR classes in college were female dominated, but the males in the classes generally wanted to go into some facet of sports writing.”
Squaw Valley publicist Katja Dahl was a journalism major at University of Colorado. After a short stint at a San Francisco ad agency, she fled back to the mountains. “My dad thought I was nuts,” she says. “‘What can you possibly do in the mountains?’ he asked. I was determined to succeed and I’m proof a woman can prosper and have a professional career up here.”
Are qualities crucial to public relation somehow becoming more unique to women? According to Beverly Alimo of Leeds University, England, today’s new transformational, or knowledge, management, requires the characteristics of vision, charisma, strategic planning, sound judgment and emotional capital—qualities that women, in particular, feel are important.
“The requirements for being a marketing or public relations professional in the ski industry have changed,” admits Maurer. “We have become mountain vacations not just ski resorts. While it’s important to understand the mountain and have passion for our sport, the skills needed today include excellent communication skills, excellent management skills, creativity, organization and a sense of urgency. Although these skills can be found in both males and females, I find that women tend to be more organized. We tend to be more win-win negotiators, and we’re more aware of the multi dimensions required to an effective manager.”
Others see the emergence of women as not just a representative change, but a barometer of the talent involved. “There has certainly been a change in upper management, and I think there is a need for everyone’s outlook, both male and female,” says Alpine Meadows’ director of marketing, Robert Olmer. “But I’m not ready to jump to any generalizations. Our media coordinator, Rachel Woods, is a very good fit for Alpine Meadows. She has great energy, attitude and enthusiasm for snowsports. Male or female, these are qualities you want in your personnel.”
Observers agree that the recent appearance of women at the top of the ski marketing field is not surprising, considering industry dynamics. “I think that the females taking over resort marketing reflects what women are doing industry-wide,” says Belt. “More and more you are seeing women on the covers of skiing and snowboarding publications. More gear is being designed for women and women pros are making their own pro-model hardgoods. They are really succeeding in all aspects of the snowsports industry. Men are opening their eyes to this and realizing that we are just as passionate about the sports as they are and just as knowledgeable.”
Whatever the circumstances, women continue to gain prominence within the male corridors of the ski industry.
“I’m all for them, mainly because they’re making me look good,” explained one resort operator who asked not to be identified. “They’re talented and I think women are sometimes more detail-oriented than men. I think the guys, we need to pay more attention to detail. If you don’t, step aside, because the women will.”
