Aaron Perry
/
RSS Feed
[Epic Sustainability, Wellness, & Community Service – Vail Resorts at the Peak of Doing Good]
With 42 owned and operated resorts world-wide, Vail Resorts is at the peak of sustainability leadership across its comprehensive suite of environmental, social, employee, and community service initiatives. Moreover, as a “Do Good” values-based company, Vail Resorts leads the way as an example of a competitive, profitable, and growing public company that has woven into its core a deep commitment to social and environmental performance. In this interview, Kate Wilson, VP of Environmental & Social Responsibility discusses Vail’s many core projects, and the fact that, for Vail Resorts, “Sustainability is not a ‘side thing’ … it is integral and operationalized” throughout the corporate ecosystem.
Having asked, “What would it take for companies to address climate change at scale,” Kate found in Vail Resorts an ethical foundation and action-oriented platform from which she is now leading initiatives from recycling, composting, and supply chain improvements, to increasing inclusive access through the Boys and Girls Club of Chicago and the National Brotherhood of Snowsports, and from mental health and child care services to food security and even supplying winter gear to front line health care and utility workers in Ukraine. Along with teammates like Dr. Corey Levy of Vail’s Epic Wellness Program, Kate and her team oversee the Epic Employee Foundation which provides families with support and relief in times of crisis, including the tragic Marshall Fire in Colorado that affected many Vail Resorts employees. The company has provided 27,000 pounds of food to at risk Colorado families, and has partnered with Ecoproducts for recyclable and compostable food and beverage products and with Pepsi to upcycle plastic into durable Adirondack chairs. Vail Resorts corporation earns $3 billion in annual revenue and is a global market leader in the outdoor, winter sport, and nature and adventure tourism and hospitality categories, both in terms of financial performance and shareholder returns, and in terms of making sustained social and environmental impact in the many communities world-wide in which the corporation operates.
About Kate Wilson
As a company rooted in the outdoors, Vail Resorts has a special responsibility to protect the unique mountains where it operates. In her new role as Vice President of Environmental and Social Responsibility, Kate Wilson applies her two decades of experience to leading this critical work. Kate now oversees all four of the company’s responsibility pillars: Sustainability, investing in the future of the industry through Inclusive Access, providing Community Support, and supporting team members through the Employee Foundation. Under her leadership, the company reached 100% renewable electricity across its North American operations for the second consecutive year and is on track to achieve Commitment to Zero – the bold goal to reach a zero net operating footprint by 2030.
Before her promotion to Vice President of Environmental & Social Responsibility in 2023, Kate served as the Senior Director of Sustainability. Representing Vail Resorts, Kate has led sustainability discussions at the Bloomberg Sustainable Business Summit, Google’s Travel Summit, Colorado Governor’s Tourism Conference, and MT2030 – a coalition of mountain towns. Prior to joining Vail Resorts, Kate developed and led the greenhouse gas and sustainability strategy practice at The Cadmus Group for 10 years.
Kate earned a Master of Applied Science in environmental policy and management from the University of Denver, and a bachelor’s degree in environmental policy from Colby College. Kate is the co-lead of Vail Resorts’ Women & Allies Employee Resource Group, chairs the National Ski Areas Association Environmental Committee, and leads the Mountain Collaborative for Climate Action. Kate was recognized by the Denver Business Journal in 2020 on the “40 Under 40” for her work at Vail Resorts.
Resources & Related Episodes
Environmental and Social Responsibility Report: https://www.vailresorts.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Vail-Resorts_ESR_Report_FY23.pdf
Epic Promise Do Good video: https://vimeo.com/894711139
Employee Foundation video: https://vimeo.com/863365682/025a702ffd
Vail Mountain Recycling Center: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/vail-resorts_vail-mountain-recycling-center-activity-7156726306930401281-JFgz/
The Gondola Gallery by Epic (videos embedded): https://www.epicpass.com/info/gondola-gallery.aspx
Ep. 163 – Jared Meyers, Chairman, Legacy Vacation Resorts; Co-Founder, Climate First Bank
Ep. 150 – Hunter Lovins on UN’s COP 28 Climate Change Summit
Ep. 145 – Jerry Tinianow, former CSO, City of Denver; Founder, Western Urban Sustainability Advisors
Ep. 140 – Dr. James Gordon MD, Founder, Center for Mind-Body Healing, on Trauma Healing in Ukraine
Ep. 107 – Elaine Blumenhine & Friends, Joyful Journey Hot Springs Spa
Ep. 25 – Hunter Lovins, Author, A Finer Future; Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions
Transcript
Hey friends, it’s Aaron here and we just finished recording a podcast with Kate Wilson,
the Vice President of Environmental and Social Responsibility at Vale Resorts and Kate, what
a pleasure to be able to talk with you about so many amazing and highly impactful things
you and your team are doing at Vale Resorts and thanks for taking this additional time
to join our behind-the-scenes segment for our Ambassador Network.
Of course, I’m happy to do it.
We covered so much and honestly I’m like kind of full, feeling really like full and joyful
about all of the themes and threads that we wove together in the tapestry of our conversation
and so I’m also excited about what we’re now going to chat about because I know there’s
going to be a couple of really funny and sort of a-ha things in this part.
And let me maybe kick it off by asking, so this work you’re doing, was there something
you experienced earlier in life or in your childhood that sort of set you on this path?
Yeah, I grew up in a family where on the weekends we would always go hiking or somewhere
to be outside in the woods, grew up going to the Iterondex, which is a super special
place for me and so being on water and just being out in nature and kind of the magic
that comes with that and having family time or friend time outside has always been sort
of part of how it was brought up.
I think it really clicked for me in terms of a career when junior year I studied abroad
in Kenya and Tanzania.
It was the time 9-11 happened but before that I was an anthropology major and I thought
I wanted to study sort of the human aspect of languages and all of that but when I went
to Kenya and Tanzania what I realized after seeing sort of destruction that Westernization
was sort of putting out there, some of the waste, some of the way that the overconsumption,
sort of some of these things, I was like, we may be spreading this part unintentionally
and I thought I’m still interested in this issue but from a different perspective.
I want to, this is where I want to make the biggest impact on climate change I can
think came from and I never looked back so it came from that moment of like, okay actually
I want to do this work, like I need to do this work so that’s where it came from and
watching, yeah, cultures and I got to live with them aside for a minute and I got to
go to the Encore-encore creator and it just was incredible, like went a little bit of Swahili
and then 9-11 happened and I came home but it really struck with me of like, okay actually
I want to do this differently so I was an anthropology major and now I just missed a semester because
of 9-11 and had to come up with, you know, I had to switch my major pretty quickly so
I went to Colorado College for the summer and I did three lab courses which were with
backpacked and kayaked, the Colorado River for headwaters to mouth so from Wyoming to
Mexico and met with, you know, the Bureau, we met with native groups, we met with tribes,
we met with all sorts of folks the whole way down and learned about the health of the
Colorado River and how the, you know, water rights were set and all these different things
and how agriculture impacted it on the way to California and it was like totally amazing
for me so I needed to catch up in lab science because I hadn’t been doing that so this
was a way that that counted and solidified for me, like yeah, this is the place I want
to be, I want to be the voice for, yeah, both sort of the people and the way that we approach
that in the equitable manner as well as protecting these amazing places so that’s how we got
here.
Absolutely amazing, incredible, wow, that river trip must have been just amazing and we
talked about, you know, experiential learning, right, we were looking under a rock finding
what was hatching, tying our own flies to then catch fish, like it was, it was amazing
and then I, you know, I wasn’t sure after that, I think it took me a minute to kind of
figure out where in this space I wanted to be so I was a grassroots organizer in the
beginning of my career with Green Court.
I was a climate lobbyist in DC, I worked in a renewable space and that was a consultant
for 10 years, right, and then now I’m in house so I kind of looked at this challenge from
many different angles which I think helps when we’re meeting with community members
or we’re thinking about lobbying or we’re, you know, I’ve actually had a seat at several
of those tables so to be able to think about like the other perspective or how someone else
might be showing up has been really helpful to me.
Absolutely, beautiful.
Well, your Kenya, Tanzania, Colorado River Watershed, DC, Adirondex, I have spent a lot of
time there myself, I absolutely love it, and also you lived in London for a spell, yeah?
Or it did for almost nine years.
And you maybe have a couple of funny story or two from your time in London, huh?
Yeah, so I’m a singer, I’m a classically trained singer, and I don’t know what 7-year-old
asks her parents for opera lessons, but I did show you how cool I was.
But I, yeah, so I grew up singing classically and I got to sing.
There was a ceremony between the Emperor of Japan and Prince Charles to open a Japanese
garden in London, so I got to go and sing a song in Japanese at this ceremony.
And so I was very nervous, I was probably eight or something, and Prince Charles for most
of the ceremony was standing on my foot, but I, you know, I was so nervous and I didn’t
want to say anything, and so I just did the whole thing like that, and just, you know,
kept it there.
My teacher was like, why didn’t you say anything?
It’s like, I don’t know, I don’t know, I’m going to like get in trouble, it’s been important
people.
Anyway, so yeah, I got some pretty cool opportunities when I was there, and grew up really as a British
kid.
We were one of, you know, my brothers and I were the only Americans in our school.
So it was a pretty amazing experience and way to be brought up, and then I came back
in high school to the U.S.
Well, I’m busy, like can you sing something for us?
I cannot.
Well, fair enough, I won’t either.
Great.
Okay.
Deal.
Well, and look, like you also shared with us, with Karesa, whom most, or at least many
of our masters know, you also practice Jinshin Jitsu.
I do.
And whoa, like I was not expecting to hear that today.
I know, I wasn’t expecting it either, we got the opportunity to meet and sort of introducing
ourselves, and that came up, it’s a special thing.
I’ve been doing it for, I don’t even know, 15 years probably.
And actually, because this has come up, I also got a parasite when I was on my study
abroad trip and came home, and that’s actually why I learned Jinshin Jitsu.
Oh my goodness.
I was in a hospital, figuring out all that when I came back.
And it was, in Marstown, New Jersey, and they were sort of, one of those experimental,
they had Jinshin practitioners come in.
If you wanted it.
And so I met a practitioner then, and was like, this is amazing.
I mean, how old was I, 21, right?
And thought like, whoa, this is really incredible stuff.
And so then I started the weekend course, I started the health health, self-help course,
and I’ve done, yeah.
I became a practitioner, and pretty kids, I had a practice in my house, and used to treat
people.
And now, right, like, I’ll hold my dog’s paw, or I’ll, you know, do all the things.
But yeah, it’s really powerful.
And something that, yeah, it’s like a lifelong gift to know about how to do.
Yeah, a lot of our ambassadors that are monthly meetups will be familiar with the three-minute
video, self-help.
Yeah, full of holiday songs.
All of them.
All of them.
Yeah, awesome.
And that is so amazing.
Well, and you’re also a runner and marathoner.
I mean, it’s like, okay, like Kate Wilson, like, certified badass, right?
Like, that’s an impression I get in your mom.
I like a challenge, right?
I like a challenge.
I have a lot of grit, maybe too much.
I mean, sometimes you apply that too much.
My team would be like, I can be a bulldozer also, right?
Like, the flip side of that is like, I push pretty hard.
But yeah, I think it’s fun, you know, having run a marathon last year, I decided to do
that.
My latest thing is four months ago, I just started strength training and powerlifting.
Mm-hmm.
Because I knew nothing about it.
And honestly, it was, I was sort of intimidated, right as a woman to go into sort of a jam
with barbells and rigs and all these things.
Like, I had been really what I was avoiding.
Like, I was like, I’ll run.
I’m not going to do that.
But I go to this amazing gem in Boulder called Uplift and it’s like a very welcoming community.
And everyone just is where they are, right?
And so they teach you exactly how to use the equipment so it’s not intimidating anymore.
So it’s been really fun to go and learn.
And again, it’s growth mindset for me, all of these things, I’m like, okay, I’ll try
this, right?
This might be fun.
Let’s try this.
If it’s hard, that doesn’t scare me.
Yeah.
They scratch you.
Right.
It’s like, all right.
Like, let’s, we’re going to learn something from this.
So yeah, that’s my, that’s my latest.
I love it.
Crazy idea.
I love it.
I love it.
My son has done some training around weightlifting and fitness and it makes me think of him.
And, yeah, it’s beautiful, but to be into weightlifting is, it’s really impressive.
I mean, I’m learning a lot about it in terms of like longevity, right?
Yeah.
And, and health.
It’s a very, very exercise.
Right.
It’s like, really a healthy thing to do.
And I just, yeah, I just didn’t know.
It’s interesting to me, right?
It’s a lacrosse player and all these things, but the guys team went to the weight room,
but we never did.
Like, maybe that’s different now, but that was not how it went.
So I’m like, well, why didn’t we do that?
I’m sure they do now, but, but we didn’t.
So just with something, I have a lot of experience with.
And then when you run a lot and you get older, you have to do strength training.
You’re going to get hurt.
Yeah.
So that happened.
I was like, okay, but I want to be able to run forever.
Right?
I’m not trying to run to win something.
Most people in Boulder are already like, in the Olympics, so it’s fine.
So, but I want to, I thought I wanted to do it till a night, right?
And so it’s like, well, if you’re going to do that, you’re going to have to strength
training.
And then I just got really into strength training.
I love it.
Well, and of course, you’re a skier.
And, you know, I wanted to, I wanted to ask, are there like some funny stories?
Is there a funny story or a moment you can share with us from your time, like skiing
on the mountain or at work or whatever?
I mean, I just, it’s, I would say, you know, people think about, oh, veil, like, you
get to skill the time.
And like, I don’t get to see all the time.
But my team is, right, my team does.
And it’s just an amazing experience.
I will say one of the first times that I was skiing for work, that’s a weird thing to
say, right?
But like, I remember being on the chairlift with our former general counsel, thinking like,
this would have been a day I like, took off and played hooky in the past.
And right now, like, this is my job.
Yeah.
Right?
Like, I’m sitting here and this is literally what I’m supposed to do.
I think the other thing is like, just like the variability of what I get to do, right?
So thinking about like, I will, I have started the day in a suit doing a presentation somewhere,
then been in a ski uniform, you know, going around looking at the banana peels, making
sure they’re in the right spot.
And then, you know, I’ve gone to, like, put a hard hat on and gone to see an anaerobic
digester, which is where I’ll insult like city out of Park City, which is where I used
to go.
Right?
And gotten to do that.
So I just, I think it’s just, yeah, there’s just like so much of that stuff that happens.
And I think in terms of funny, right, it’s, I would just say it’s fun.
There’s so many experiences that I can think of with my team of being out there, just like
laughing, having it be a powder day.
One of my first, so you have to take a ski test before you can skiing uniform.
Right?
Because you need to, you need to at least have like a certain level of proficiency.
So I remember taking my ski test, and then it happened to be a day where we were doing
something called first tracks, so you go on the mountain before it’s open.
With patrol and whoever else in a group and you ski in a certain area, and it was, we
got to ski the back bowls of veil on a powder day.
Oh my gosh.
And it was like, this is my job.
Like, it was just such an incredible, you know, everyone’s yelling and like, it’s just
so exciting.
Exactly.
It’s just like so excited.
And you have those moments.
I’m like, wow.
Right, this is something that I love to do so much and to get to be, you know, doing this
as part of what my role is, is pretty, pretty incredible.
Amazing.
That was amazing.
Wow.
That’s beautiful.
Well, in your mention of wearing different uniforms reminds me of an experience I had
back when I had our waste cooking oil recycling company working in the biofuels industry.
And one day, I was downtown Denver, suit and tie for a meeting to finance a project at
Piper Jaffrey up on the 30-some-odd floor of one of the hireises and parked and was walking
down along 16th Street Mall.
And because I had a suit and tie on, certain people would interact with me in certain ways.
Some people ignored me completely.
I guess assuming I was an asshole.
You know, I noticed some people said things like, you know, hycer and like open the door.
It was also just interesting in terms of the interaction with the women.
Like some women ignored me completely.
Others were interested in me because I had a suit and tie on, I guess.
And then the very next day, I was on one of my monthly recycling routes for quite some
time.
I did this so that I stayed really close to the operations.
So now instead of a suit and tie, I was in a blue collar work uniform with my first name
right here and in the alley collecting cooking oil.
And now, because of how I’m dressed, I had a very different set of interactions.
And you know, some people were really like friendly and open and others were ignoring
me.
Right?
Because I was like, nobody or whatever in their mind that day.
And it really, and I will say, I’ll admit to the ambassador network, like, so I think
women interacted differently, like, oh, here’s a guy who’s probably like strong and hard
working or whatever.
I don’t know what it was.
But it really struck me.
It’s like, whoa, like I’m the same person no matter what here.
But just because I’m wearing these different clothes and in these different roles in society,
people are, you know, responding with very different assumptions in it.
I’ve always been friendly with people, I think, in part because I moved a lot as a kid.
But it really opened up for me just how much folks, especially from certain segments of
our society are kind of kind of ignored and kind of like treated as if they’re not even
there.
It’s been, so I’m taking on this equity work for our company in the external part.
Like I’m thinking a lot about design thinking and thinking about different personas, right?
So putting on the hat of, like, what would it be like if I was an adaptive skier that
was coming to our resort in a wheelchair?
So I got to go to Park City has, so I call them a graph center and it’s an adaptive center.
We don’t own it, but we’re in partnership with them and it’s at the base of Park City.
And so I got to go this year and it was amazing.
Like half the parking lot, the closest spots obviously are handicapped parking.
There’s a ramp right there.
You go in and every desk is at wheelchair height, right?
And just thinking about like what would some place feel like and look like and be like
that fits me, right?
Or fits that person has been really incredible to start thinking about.
Like, well, and what if I was a single mom and I have to drop my kids off at their lessons.
So I can’t start my lesson at the same time because I can’t, right?
So it’s like, well, why do I need that to, my lesson to start half an hour later.
So I can get my kids to their spot or what if I was, you know, couldn’t, I can’t speak
English or it’s not my first language or what if, so like I’m spending a lot of time
thinking about this from different perspectives, if we’re really going to have the future of
the sport, be inclusion.
What does that feel like for all sorts of different types of people?
And what is that experience, right?
Like where do I park?
How do I use the restroom?
Where do I pay?
Right?
All those different things.
So I think it’s really helpful to kind of, yeah, take that perspective of what might
it feel like to be in a different body and a different mind and a different everything
and still want to enjoy this experience.
Mm-hmm.
That’s incredible.
Yeah.
I really, I think helps us develop empathy when we do that, right?
And mentioning a mom has a kind of scenario that you’re thinking about, like you’re a mom.
So in addition to all this stuff you’re doing, you’re also a mom, like holy smokes, like
that’s impressive, that’s incredible.
What do you think about with your kiddos relative to things like climate change and systemic
risk and opportunity and the, you know, perhaps moral imperative of working in service to
our communities?
How do you approach that as a mom?
Yeah.
I’m pretty transparent with my kids.
I mean, appropriate for their age, right?
But we have, you know, volunteering events that we do through dollar’s worth.
So, you know, last year we took them to a, two years ago we painted a school, last year
we did a park cleanup, right?
So I bring them with me to these things and talk about like, why are we doing it?
What, what, why are we doing this and, you know, I take them to our resorts and they’re,
they look at the, you know, kind of tell me how I’m doing based on how much trash they
see.
Mm-hmm.
I had a hilarious thing that I haven’t actually, my daughter was like, you know, the tree
that always has like the beads and the bra on it, like we don’t take that down.
That’s part of like what ski culture, like so we leave, you know, not lots of those,
but we’ll leave like the one that has that.
So my daughter was like, mom, you were doing a terrible job.
Do you see this tree?
Like there are, there are stuff all over this, like aren’t you supposed to be cleaning
up the environment?
Um, so there.
You missed one mom.
Right.
She’s like, this doesn’t seem like it was doing very well.
Um, right, but so to show them kind of what, what is that like and, um, yeah, just making
sure that they understand like this is how we kind of take care of the earth, right?
This is how we take care of each other.
This is how we show up.
And so, um, yeah, we’ll see, we’ll see how it turns out, right?
Um, but they certainly, yeah, I think it’s important and, right, I’m, I’m working.
And so making sure that they know, um, why I’m doing that, you know, I had a conversation
with my daughter the other day about like, I’m sorry that I’m not the person that’s like
on the field trip every time.
And I’m not that mom, and she’s like, I guess what came on, like, I know what you’re doing,
right?
So I try to also show them of like, this is why I’m doing this.
This is really important to me, it’s important to the future, right?
This is why I’m doing anything they get that.
And there’s a tension around it, right?
Because there’s times when I do want to go on the field trip.
Um, and so just, yeah, figuring out which of course I can do, but just trying to figure
out like that balance, um, because I’m obviously really passionate about the work that I do.
Um, so making sure that I’m, you know, having that boundary around also just being their
mom.
Totally.
Yeah.
So great.
So beautiful.
It’s been such a pleasure and joy to have this time visiting with you today and, uh, thanks
for, you know, taking the additional time to visit behind the scenes for our ambassador
network.
And before we sign off for the day to day, um, I wanted to, uh, once again, just open
the floor up, uh, anything else you might like to share in particular with, with our
ambassador network, please, uh, my friend of floor’s years.
Yeah, I’m just, I’m appreciative to be here and to be among friends, right?
To be in a group where, um, I know, I know everyone out there is, is, um, working on these
things, right on themselves in their communities in the world.
Uh, and so it gives me, you know, that joy and that, you know, that sort of keep going
attitude.
I did get to, um, a couple of years ago, I got to meet Dr. Jane Goodall and we had, you
got to ask a question and I was in a green room with her and I got to ask her a question
and then I said, you know, how do you, how do you keep going, right?
When it’s just like so heavy and hard and, you know, we’re up against some pretty serious
stakes here.
Like how do you do it?
And she was like, you can’t not.
And I feel that deeply, right?
So it was just a really cool experience and then I, um, and she was like, do you want to
take a photo?
I was like, yes.
And then she was like, well, the way that you take a good photo is she put her arm around
my shoulder and looked at me.
She’s like, this is more authentic.
I was like, we should probably share the photo because I look like a three-year-old.
I’m so excited.
I’m like, can’t even handle it because I mean, she’s amazing.
So right, I think it’s just, we can’t not do it, right?
So we’ve got to keep going, um, and to be among a group of people that are, have that
message already and are passionate and committed to making change in the world is, is where
I want to be.
So thank you for the time.
Absolutely.
Uh-oh.
It was awesome.
Thank you, Kate.
Yeah.
Thank you.
The Y on Earth Community Stewardship and Sustainability Podcast Series is hosted
by Aaron William Perry, author, thought leader, and executive consultant.
The podcast and video recordings are made possible by the generous support of people
like you.
To sign up as a daily, weekly, or monthly supporter, please visit yonearth.org backslashsupport.
Support packages start at just one dollar per month.
The podcast series is also sponsored by several corporate and organization sponsors.
You can get discounts on their products and services using the code Y on Earth, all
one word with a Y.
These sponsors are listed on the yonearth.org backslashsupport page.
If you found this particular podcast episode especially insightful, informative, or inspiring,
please pass it on and share it with a friend whom you think will also enjoy it.
Thank you for tuning in.
Thank you for your support, and thank you for being a part of the Y on Earth Community.
0 comments