Join hosts Nick, Kari and Michael as they explore a 36 year career with industry legend, Dana Bullen. Also be inspired by our incredible employee of the month nomination.
Join hosts Nick, Kari and Michael as they explore a 36 year career with industry legend, Dana Bullen. Also be inspired by our incredible employee of the month nomination.
Welcome to episode five of The Lift, a Boyne Team Members Podcast. I'm Brad Keen, Senior VP of Food and Beverage and Executive Producer of the show. I am so happy and honored that I get to introduce one of my closest friends, Dana Bullen, President of Sunday River. Dana explores his 36 years in the ski industry and what it takes to be a leader. He has quite a roster of teammates he's helped develop over the years, which is one of our lead principles, developing great people. Enjoy the show.
Nick Lambert:Welcome to episode five point team member podcast. I'm Nick Lambert. I'm here with Michael Anselmi and Kari Roder, and some big news to start off. We've hit the big time and you can now download us on Apple, Spotify, or wherever else you download your favorite podcasts. Kari, what's your favorite podcast right now?
Kari Roder:Well, beside this one, you know, I really like Lindsay Dyer's, podcast"ShowingUp." I listen to that occasionally and I also follow some van life people. Is that weird?
Michael Anselmi:Well, you have a van, right? Or you want a van?
Kari Roder:I would love to have a van, a camper van. Yeah,
Michael Anselmi:Well, we have a great one on tap today. If you've been in the ski industry for half a second, you have either heard a Dana Bullen story or have been a part of one. I'm excited that we got him on the show today and get to learn more about his 30 plus year career in the business.
Kari Roder:Nick, how many years have you worked with Dana?
Nick Lambert:A lot.
Kari Roder:A lot. Do you have some high hopes that there's going to be some stories unveiled that maybe no one has heard before?
Nick Lambert:I will say this. If we wanted to make it to episode six, that's probably not the place to start. Probably not a good idea.
Kari Roder:Dana, welcome to the lift.
Dana Bullen:Thanks. I appreciate you inviting me.
Kari Roder:So you took over as General Manager at Sunday River 16 years ago. Where were you before that?
Dana Bullen:I had worked at Sugarloaf for the previous 15 years. And while at Sugarloaf, I worked for the parent company at that time, which was American Skiing Company.
Kari Roder:So in your 16 years of running one of the largest resorts in New England, what has been the biggest change that you have seen since you've started?
Dana Bullen:Well, it's easier to tell you what at Sunday River hasn't changed. At Sunday River, what hasn't changed as a passion for snow and snowmaking. And we've been after that. Other than that, Kari, almost everything's changed in the last year. Things have changed even more.
Nick Lambert:So, Dana, as you know, one of our company goals heading into the season is recruiting the right people and finding the right position for them, getting them in the right seat on the bus, as you would like to say. How do you, how and where do you find new team members and how do you keep them with the resort? And as part of the team, long-term?
Dana Bullen:You know, Nick, Sunday River has always had a reputation for being able do that. And in my tenure here in 16 years, I've been blessed with a lot of really great team members who have done some things, a lot of good things, after they've left Sunday River, and some have stayed right here and done really great things as well. There's really three progressions that I would say in recruiting and growing team members, the first is a natural one. Nick, you're a great example of that. You start within a department and then you grow within that department. You finally take over the Vice President's job at a resort, but then from there, the next step is at corporate with Chief Marketing Officer. Another natural progression would be Arthur Tate. Arthur Tate is now one of our greatest lift mechanics. Arthur started out running lifts a number of years ago. And boy, it's a lot of fun. Watching people grow-- Cathy Witherspoon would be another wonderful example. Watching Cathy grow from Sunday River and Sugarloaf and HR here to being the Chief Human Resource Officer at Boyne is great. And it's just as rewarding as somebody that I've worked with for 17 years at Sunday River, and that's Becky Bean, she's the executive assistant here. And although her title has remained the same, watching her grow in her job and be probably the most knowledgeable person about Sunday River has been amazing. The second way people grow is by being identified as really strong leaders who have the ability to grow in other areas. Amanda Gallant was in marketing and sponsorships, something, Jeff, you can relate to. It was really clear. She had a passion for people and helping people. And now she's the Director of Human Resources for Sunday River. Meredith Harrop was in the ski school and did a great job running our kids' programs and the ski school. She is now the Vice President of Lodging at Sunday River. Our General Manager, Brian Heon just hired a new executive assistant that's going to be working with him and he came from the rental shop. And I think in those cases, Nick, what we've done is identified people who have strong leadership characteristics who are adaptable when grown in the business and then there's recruiting through other possible channels relationships. Brian Heon, I just mentioned, is our General Manager. Rick Kelly was an industry contact and Brian got recruited from Attitash to be here. Erica Dewhurst-- I started recruiting her the day she left Sunday River eight years ago, and went out west to live for a few years and we recruited her back here and next she's now the Vice President of Food and Beverage. So there's a number of those pieces through relationships that we're able to attract good people. And then it's just a matter of making sure that they're happy and enjoy what they do.
Michael Anselmi:Well, that's a really great synopsis, Dana, and you understanding how important it is to identify people, nurture them and grow them. It's key to the company because we're not going to be here forever. So let's go back to when you started, did you imagine when you showed up for that first day at Sugarloaf, that you were going to be in this business for over three decades?
Dana Bullen:I did. And this is going to sound arrogant, but back then I knew the day that I started in the rental shop, the first day I met Warren Cook that I wanted to be Warren. There was something about the way he handled himself. There was something about the way he moved at the resort that I knew that was a position that I wanted. And so I had an opportunity with Warren and Peter Weber and John Diller and other mentors throughout time to do many different things. I was a golf pro at Sugarloaf. I worked in the rental shop. I worked in retail. I worked in sales, I worked in marketing and then ultimately I went to work for a parent company, AFC at the time, doing sponsorships. All the time, what I was really doing was getting a background of many different aspects of a resort. So when the opportunity arose to be a General Manager, I had some background to be able to do that. You know, what's interesting, Michael, I think if you asked me back then when I got to Sunday River with Nick 16 years ago, I looked at it like my job was to have all the right answers. And so that was something that I thought was important. Then I met this guy named Jim Hunter. Jim Hunter really changed who we are as a company. Jim Hunter taught me that I didn't have to have all the right answers. I just needed to ask my team enough, right questions to get them the right answers. And he's had a monstrous influence over Sunday River and our entire company for a number of years. And I guess we give Bernie Friedrich, who you've had on this podcast before, credit for that, for introducing us to Jim.
Kari Roder:I did not realize that Bernie introduced us to Jim.
Dana Bullen:Yeah. Actually, Bernie was responsible for doing a book report at our General Managers meeting and he took a shortcut and instead of giving the book report, Bernie brought in the author. And that was the first day that we met Jim Hunter and Bernie was kind enough to allow Jim to start his program here at Sunday river.
Kari Roder:Of course, Bernie brought in the author. Using that pull. That's awesome. We're actually going to be speaking to Bernie in a forthcoming podcast and we are definitely going to have to ask him about that now. So taking a little bit of a change of direction of conversation. So as we head into the'21/'22 season, what are some of the changes that you think will stick around as we enter into this post-pandemic world from things we learned over this past year?
Dana Bullen:Kari, I hope the first thing is that we keep the bags out of our base lodges. Now I think we might have some small adaptation where we'll store them outside somehow, but what a wonderful experience not to have bags and be able to have a place to sit down and enjoy lunch. And that was a really cool experience. I think the other parts that we want to look at is our food and beverage-- it's ever evolving. Boy, the food's good, not only at Sunday River, but across all of our resorts. Big Sky's doing some amazing things, Boyne Highlands doing some amazing things. And I think our food and beverage continues to evolve as to what people are looking for, what they expect and what we're able to deliver. I think along with bags out of the base lodges, that's going to help us encourage tailgating. We fought it for a number of years, but wow, what a wonderful experience. It's like going to a Patriots game and being able to run back to the car and cook your lunch and experience it, and have some space. So I think that's good.
Kari Roder:At Boyne Mountain, we actually had a beverage cart going through the parking lot. We were selling drinks in the lot.
Nick Lambert:I love it.
Michael Anselmi:Let's get the executive producer out there to do that, for the tailgate. We're going to get Brad Keen-- the Brad Keen tailgater. And he's going to do that. Let's do that.
Dana Bullen:I've experienced several tailgates with Mr. Keen. Some were football games, some of them we've been out fishing and hunting, but I can promise you one thing, the man can cook. He knows what he's doing. And then Kari, I think on a more global level, maybe that hopefully when we come out of all this, that how we learned to be kind to each other, how we learn to help each other out. I hope that doesn't change. I hope we continue down that path.
Kari Roder:I agree.
Michael Anselmi:So running a ski resort takes up a boatload of time and I've heard you before say you get up at 3:00 AM and you pushed'till about six or seven, and then your clock expires. You've got the kids, your wife, dogs, but you have these hobbies, hunting, fishing, enjoying the outdoors. Give us some advice or color of how you've been able to manage that. And you know, you have those holidays where you're spending 16, 17 hours at the resort. Can you give us a little bit of that secret sauce? That little magic that's helped you keep it going?
Dana Bullen:Well, first of all, Michael, I'm going to correct you before Nick does. I do get up at 3:00 AM and I think I work really hard when I'm here, but Nick would tell you that by 3:30, I'm absolutely useless.
Nick Lambert:All done. All done.
Dana Bullen:I think I had a really good perspective on understanding that the most important thing in my life was my family. And so when there was little league, I coached little league, when there was kids races, I always made sure to go to kids races. I encourage our team to do the same thing. You blink and a six year old is in college. And you need to always take time to spend with your family because if that piece of your life isn't where it needs to be, then the rest of it isn't balanced enough. So you can operate at a high level at work. So I think I looked at it that way, Michael.
Michael Anselmi:Well, that's great.
Dana Bullen:And I do love the outdoors, but you put me behind, put me behind a fly rod or a gun or a rifle or a golf club or a set of skis and I'm a happy man. That's truly where I'm the happiest is outdoors. And I think part of it is choosing an industry where you're able to do what you love. And if you're going to spend half your waking hours at work, you want to find something that really motivates you and get you happy.
Michael Anselmi:Yeah. It's important. It's you don't want your job to be a job. You want it to be a hobby, right? You want to enjoy it and be a part of your passion. So completely there with you, Dana, completely there.
Dana Bullen:34 years, not one day have I ever not been excited to come to work. Not one. Now there are days that are better than other days. I will give you that. But there hasn't been a day that I haven't enjoyed what I do. And I think that's infectious. People see that, and that helps them as well.
Nick Lambert:So, Dana, let's mix this up a little bit, dive into the really personal stuff. Tell us something that people would be surprised to know about you.
Dana Bullen:I love kids. I love dogs and there's a soft place in my heart for old people.
Michael Anselmi:What's old?
Dana Bullen:Wow, that changes Michael, as the years go on!
Nick Lambert:It's a sliding scale.
Dana Bullen:Bernie is old! Used to be 60, but as I creep up towards 60, you know that that's a moving target.
Nick Lambert:So before we wrap this up, I'd like to talk about a few urban legends, maybe ski resort legends, if you will, to dispel fact from fiction. First, rumor has it that you once dragged a Ford pickup truck up the ski hill, loaded it with dynamite and blew it up. Fact or fiction?
Dana Bullen:Fact. We had the Chevy Truck World Cup at Sugarloaf, and for opening ceremonies, I wanted to over deliver for Chevy. So I thought we could do nothing better than to take that truck up, and as you said, load it with dynamite, but not only dynamite, the explosives guys thought that grain dust would be a wonderful addition to that. And honestly, when they touched it off, we had no idea what was going to happen. That truck went 50 feet into the air and Crusher, who was the Vice President of Mountain Operations, cursed me for two weeks, picking up pieces of that truck all over that mountain.
Nick Lambert:So when people talk about operations not trusting marketing, I'm going to say,"this is where that came from."
Dana Bullen:That does. The gap jump, if you remember the border battles that we did, where we gave away classic cars, I got a classic ambulance and we created a gap jump, and we put the ambulance with the lights running and everything underneath the gap jump. The only challenge was as we made the gap too big, and folks had a challenge getting over the gap. That would be another one of those times, Mr. Lambert, that people weren't happy with us for operations.
Nick Lambert:Okay. Here's here's one more. Last one I'm told that you once built the world's largest hot tub. Fact or fiction? And if true, how did you build it? And more importantly, what did that look like?
Kari Roder:Does Stephen know this?
Nick Lambert:He will now.
:Fact. I built it at Sugarloaf. I took a 40 foot above ground pool, hired a furnace company that come in with two large furnaces and then hooked up a very large blower and made the world's largest hot tub, which during the day, a number of folks got to enjoy and it worked out extremely well as we got towards the evening. Yeah. We'll leave the story there.
Michael Anselmi:Stop. Yep. Yep. Cathy Witherspoon is listening, let's stop. So our, kind of our ending, kind of, it's like a speed round. Final, final. So we're going to kind of use some questions we've used with previous interviewees and some new ones. So final, final ski run you'll ever ski and with who?
Dana Bullen:It snowed four inches at Sunday River, the prevailing winds blowing and on the left-hand side of American Express, it's blown and dropped in eight inches, a really fluffy white powder. And I'm going to ski American Express four times.
Kari Roder:There you go. So final, final ski resort other than yours,'cause you just used Sunday River as your example, that you will take a vacation at.
Dana Bullen:Big Sky. From the first day I got there, I just can't believe the size of the place and how beautiful it is.
Michael Anselmi:Final, final, happy hour. And with who, and remember who our Executive Producer is and how he likes seasonal drinks.
Dana Bullen:I'll actually go rogue on this, then, Michael. I would say it would be in Napa Valley, a really good Cabernet with Roland.
Kari Roder:Oh wow. I would want to join on that one. That's lovely. Final, final fishing trip you'll go on. And with who? Sounds also kind of morbid doesn't it?
Michael Anselmi:No more Final, Final. Speed round, it shouldn't be morbid.
Kari Roder:Okay, Speed round.
Dana Bullen:Two days ago, I went out with my wife, my son, and my daughter, and we fished for striped bass and the Kennebec River. We caught 50 fish, but more than anything we were together and we were in the outdoors. It was awesome.
Kari Roder:I love that.
Nick Lambert:Dana, thanks for joining us.
:Thank you guys. That was fun.
Michael Anselmi:Well, that was a great interview. And what an incredible and fascinating career that Dana has had the stops along the way and all the people he's impacted. I mean, amazing.
Nick Lambert:Michael, if you ever find yourself in a situation where you need to blow up a pickup, Dana is your guy.
Michael Anselmi:He is.
Nick Lambert:He's your guy. But no, all kidding aside, Dana is a great guy. I've been very fortunate that I've been able to work with him for a long time in my career here at Sunday River and with Boyne. You know, he really cares about our company and cares about our team also.
Kari Roder:It's so inspiring to hear the leaders in our company, talk about developing great people, because even, you know, as a marketing director here at Boyne Mountain, it is probably my favorite part of my job is growing the people on my team and watching them grow in their role, take on more, learn more and move up. It's just a cool concept that is embraced by Boyne. And I really appreciate it.
Michael Anselmi:Impact on others, which inevitably has an impact on the company.
Nick Lambert:It's cultural, right? It's a Boyne Basic. It's part of the flywheel. It's what we do here.
Kari Roder:Now it's time for my favorite part of our Lift podcast, it's the employee of the month. You can nominate an employee of the month by simply emailing us at podcast@boyneresorts.com. And they not only will get mentioned in an episode of The Lift, but we'll also send them a$50 Boyne gift card. This month, our nomination comes from Boyne Highlands from Amanda Bomers who was also an employee of the month on our podcast. So she obviously felt compelled to nominate someone on her team. And we want to congratulate Bree Borowicz-Horn. Bree has been a part of the Boyne Highlands HR team and Amanda just can't say enough kind things about her because Bree is so kind and she always shines at the resort in the good times and the bad times, always shows up with a positive attitude and really, you know, that's what it's all about. Attitude is everything. During the payroll rebuild, she was assigned to help the Michigan team get back up and going this past November and, you know, and miss all of that hard work she was doing, you know, struggling on her personal life as well as her father passed away from COVID. Can't send enough condolences to her. I can't imagine working through that and I'm sure part of going to work probably was therapeutic for her, but she never missed a beat. Amanda said she was amazing through the whole thing. She's been there for three years and yeah, just her role at the resort has made a huge difference. She typically works with the international students. I know a lot of our resorts have international students that come every year. Well, Bree is the one that, you know, is helping these students get acclimated to Michigan, to figuring out, you know, their new work roles, working through any language barriers. In fact, most of the students ended up calling her mom. So if that doesn't speak volumes, I don't know what does, but on top of that, she is a mom. She's got two boys of her own working through, you know, some of their adversities, I guess you could say, her oldest having autism, her other son suffers from epilepsy, but she takes what she learns at home and applies it at work, which I just think is amazing to not only work through that on a personal front, but then bring it to work and help other people. They've hired two individuals at Boyne Highlands with autism and on their first day, week, you know, Bree is the one that's building a plan for them working with them, working with their manager and really just setting everybody up for success regardless of their situation. So Amanda couldn't say enough, nice things. Bree is truly the rock of their HR team, an amazing ally, amazing friend and the world needs more Brees in it. And we couldn't agree more. So I think it fits with our, with our whole topic this month, talking about, you know, developing great people. It's one of our Boyne Basics and here is somebody who takes that very seriously is developing great people every day in all different sorts of ways at, at work. And it's part of her job. And I just want to send out a big, huge congratulations to Bree. Thank you for everything that you do and thank you to Amanda for nominating a team member of the month. Now remember it's super easy to do. All you have to do is email us podcast@boyneresorts.com and tell us who you think should be the winner next month. That wraps up another fantastic episode. We've got five under our belt now you guys. Like, we're getting, like, professional.
Nick Lambert:I feel like we're getting worse every time.
Kari Roder:No way. Well, I think we have a lot to look forward to in episode six, I heard John McGregor might be on
Nick Lambert:The elusive John McGregor. We'll see, we'll see. It's a big-- that's a big job to recruit him. Michael. I think you're tackling that one.
Michael Anselmi:Well, I'm going to try to track him down. I have some ideas, some methods. I'm not really willing to share them right now because I don't want him to think to look, you know, know where I'm coming from, but that's the hope. All right, can't wait guys. Until next time.