• Forums
  • Ski Gabber
  • Rob Katz Bails as Vail CEO, Appoints Kirsten Lynch to Take the Fall

Member of the Month

abjectwoe
May, 2025

Online

Welcome to the Newschoolers forums! You may read the forums as a guest, however you must be a registered member to post. Register to become a member today!

Rob Katz Bails as Vail CEO, Appoints Kirsten Lynch to Take the Fall

profile picture
Gulo_gulo
Posts: 55 - Karma: 469
Anyone else think that Rob Katz saw how things were going with Vail and stepped aside before it got worse? He knew that Vail had gone too far, too fast and things were about to implode so he stepped back and got Kirsten Lynch promoted to CEO and take the fall when everything falls apart.
3 years ago
21 2
profile picture
tdollo
Posts: 3884 - Karma: 19,899
Katz is still involved in Vail so this doesn't hold up in my books.

"BROOMFIELD, Colo. — August 10, 2021— Vail Resorts, Inc. Today announced that Kirsten Lynch, the Company’s chief marketing officer, will be appointed chief executive officer and elected to the Company’s board of directors, effective November 1, 2021. At that time, Rob Katz, the Company’s current chief executive officer, will be appointed executive chairperson of the board and remain fully active and engaged in Vail Resorts’ key strategic decisions and priorities. Additionally, at that time, Ryan Bennett, currently vice president of marketing, lift revenue, will be named chief marketing officer of Vail Resorts".
3 years ago
10 1
profile picture
GloryHoleGary
Posts: 178 - Karma: 1,758
Fuck Vail
3 years ago
26 1
profile picture
TOAST.
Posts: 7762 - Karma: 39,842
The ol' glass cliff
3 years ago
10 1
profile picture
PeppermillReno
Posts: 4884 - Karma: -719
Rob Katz should be tried for crimes against humanity IMO.
3 years ago
8 0
profile picture
theabortionator
Posts: 52629 - Karma: 174,656
PeppermillRenoRob Katz should be tried for crimes against humanity IMO.


Idk about that but maybe be tied to a post at the bottom of the mtn on a pow day and everyone with a grievance gets to throw a white room at him on the way back to the lifts.

The spray the fuck out of bobby cats tour.

Sure it wouldn't solve anything but it would feel pretty damn good.
3 years ago
23 0
profile picture
BradFiAusNzCoCa
Posts: 7538 - Karma: 67,051
Yes I do. I’ve been saying it for a second. Katz is a Wall Street guy. Vail has been ridiculously bearish and, especially, since Ikon. I could detail the resort structure of it but basically vail is out of resorts to acquire that align with their structure. They can only go down and Rob presented Kirsten as the sacrificial lamb. Sad thing is she thinks this is a great opportunity when he is literally allowing her to be blamed for everything.
3 years ago
10 0
profile picture
Casey
Posts: 8018 - Karma: 26,936
They just fired the stevens pass GM. Seems we found the bottom of the barrel for how badly you can fuck your customers and get away with it. The state AG was considering fraud charges for fuck sake
3 years ago
11 0
profile picture
r00kie
Posts: 5238 - Karma: 59,602
Any details on if company shares were involved in the transition? Usually the ceo holds x amount of shares as part of their compensation package and Katz is stepping down before those shares drop off. If you own vail stock, dump it ASAP.
3 years ago
1 1
profile picture
mountaindewgirl
Posts: 2317 - Karma: 21,132
I'm 1000% positive she knows that she's the sacrifice.

Really, what a cowardly move by Rob Katz.

Buckling under the pressure and punting it off to the marketing lady so she can engineer a squeaky clean "brand" to be the face of leadership instead.

Completely tone-deaf considering that "the room" has spent decades criticizing Vail for being impersonal.
3 years ago
6 0
profile picture
mountaindewgirl
Posts: 2317 - Karma: 21,132
We're not falling for it!

It's OBVIOUSLY a charade for him and the entire corporation to dodge accountability.

As a lifelong customer, I only feel more alienated.

They might as well have appointed Ripper-Roo.
3 years ago
3 0
profile picture
mountaindewgirl
Posts: 2317 - Karma: 21,132
I'd bet you anything that a slimy board member walked Lynch into Katz's office and told him,

"Rob, we're making Kirsten the CEO so that she can socially engineer herself to be whatever we need her to be. Your job won't change, just your title."
3 years ago
4 0
profile picture
Christian_Bale
Posts: 2269 - Karma: 25,739
theabortionatorIdk about that but maybe be tied to a post at the bottom of the mtn on a pow day and everyone with a grievance gets to throw a white room at him on the way back to the lifts.

The spray the fuck out of bobby cats tour.

Sure it wouldn't solve anything but it would feel pretty damn good.

Like a modern day version of tar-and-feathering (pretty sure you americans used to that a lot back in the day lol). I back it
3 years ago
1 0
profile picture
GayWolf420
Posts: 38131 - Karma: 130,120
larilinesignI'm 1000% positive she knows that she's the sacrifice.

Really, what a cowardly move by Rob Katz.

Buckling under the pressure and punting it off to the marketing lady so she can engineer a squeaky clean "brand" to be the face of leadership instead.

Completely tone-deaf considering that "the room" has spent decades criticizing Vail for being impersonal.


She still makes way more than the average employee for the company would at lower levels (cough ski patrol cough) and would continue to do if she chose to do them, so don't feel bad for anyone at that company in the corporate offices tbh. She's just as much of the problem for taking a paycheck as much as Katz is for making this mess and not standing up or speaking out in fear of losing their job. Its still gutless corporate America

**This post was edited on Jan 13th 2022 at 2:02:13am

**This post was edited on Jan 13th 2022 at 2:04:37am
3 years ago
4 1
profile picture
SkiingNinja
Posts: 1974 - Karma: 947
While I have boycotted Vail for a number of years, I do see the value their growth strategy from a business perspective with vertical integration of retail, transportation, etc. The inevitable growing pains are rough though. I’m afraid we are going to see more “accessible” experiences offered by Vail for the masses by driving season prices down and using it as a loss leader to get their national customers to buy into more vacations that end up being larger purchases than the local ski bum who buys just a pass. It’s a good thing for some and I’m sure there is some benefit for local tourism, but I can’t help but feel the locals are the ones that get the downside of their strategy. The local skier who doesn’t want / can’t afford to travel just gets larger crowds for a small discount on their pass. Plus, it attracts non-local 1%ers buying up real estate and short term renting it. Look at Crested Butte’s housing crisis/market. All that said, with their stock plummeting, it’s probably a good time to buy at the ground floor …

I would rather see business models like Arapahoe Basin thrive. All about the customer experience and people are willing to trade diversity/quantity of skiing for quality of experience.
3 years ago
3 0
profile picture
FruitBootPro
Posts: 3177 - Karma: 14,532
This is a good sign, it means these people think they won't be able to weather the storm. We need to keep generating more backlash
3 years ago
3 0
profile picture
PeppermillReno
Posts: 4884 - Karma: -719
BradFiAusNzCoCaYes I do. I’ve been saying it for a second. Katz is a Wall Street guy. Vail has been ridiculously bearish and, especially, since Ikon. I could detail the resort structure of it but basically vail is out of resorts to acquire that align with their structure. They can only go down and Rob presented Kirsten as the sacrificial lamb. Sad thing is she thinks this is a great opportunity when he is literally allowing her to be blamed for everything.



They are still a very profitable company.

But in an industry where business owners typically don't care about making as much as possible and just want to not lose money they found a way to be ultra amazon like profitable due to slimy business ethics.

THey didn't even refund or credit passes for people who took the year off due to the unexpected global pandemic.

Making a little less is hardly a punishment.
3 years ago
1 0
profile picture
RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25444 - Karma: 13,856
CaseyThey just fired the stevens pass GM. Seems we found the bottom of the barrel for how badly you can fuck your customers and get away with it. The state AG was considering fraud charges for fuck sake


Just gonna say that we have still seen no actual changes to Stevens Pass operations and no public plan for how they intend to get staff to fully open the mountain. I’m hopeful there will be changes but nothing has been ‘solved’ yet - they replaced Tom with another Tom and just because this guy grew up skiing in WA means fuck all for fixing the deep seated animosity the local community has towards Vail.

Get your skins and tour skis ready Tom - gonna have a lot of uphill ahead.
3 years ago
4 0
profile picture
Casey
Posts: 8018 - Karma: 26,936
RudyGarmischJust gonna say that we have still seen no actual changes to Stevens Pass operations and no public plan for how they intend to get staff to fully open the mountain. I’m hopeful there will be changes but nothing has been ‘solved’ yet - they replaced Tom with another Tom and just because this guy grew up skiing in WA means fuck all for fixing the deep seated animosity the local community has towards Vail.

Get your skins and tour skis ready Tom - gonna have a lot of uphill ahead.


From the outside it’s like, you’re charging 4 times as much money for a lift ticket why could you operate then and not now. Sounds like the big wigs won’t budge on wage increases so the stalemate continues. 🤷‍♂️
3 years ago
1 0
profile picture
Trefin
Posts: 113 - Karma: 257
larilinesignI'm 1000% positive she knows that she's the sacrifice.

Really, what a cowardly move by Rob Katz.

Buckling under the pressure and punting it off to the marketing lady so she can engineer a squeaky clean "brand" to be the face of leadership instead.

Completely tone-deaf considering that "the room" has spent decades criticizing Vail for being impersonal.

Katz knew what he was doing and it's likely she didn't or the reward was too great to turn down, its hard to get into the CEO club but even failed ones get board seats going forward. This scenario happens a lot more than you think. Lots of bank CEOs did this same thing in 07-08 before the mortgage crisis.
3 years ago
3 0
All times are Eastern (-4); Currently it's 1:59PM