Aspen One Announces New Leadership Updates

As Aspen One continues its evolution and strengthens its teams, the company is proud to announce four senior level leadership updates. These roles are critical as the company continues to sharpen its capabilities to better support its guests, employees, and their communities.

“We are nothing without our incredibly talented people,” said Dave Tanner, President and CEO of Aspen One. “Our employees make us who we are—from those who’ve dedicated decades to building and nurturing this place, to newcomers with different and energizing experiences, we all share clear passion for our values, culture, and vision. Together we pursue excellence, and it is an honor to share these updates about four key leadership roles across our enterprise.”

Company veterans John Rigney and Susan Cross will both see promotions. With a combined 71 years of experience at Aspen Skiing Co. (ASC), both Rigney and Cross have unique stories to tell, having worked their way up through the ranks to achieve these executive leadership roles, leaving an incredible impact along the way. Newcomers Steve Stout and Tripp Riggs bring new perspective and incredible experience in retail and finance, respectively: 

• John Rigney, currently Senior Vice President of Aspen Skiing Company Business Development, has been promoted to Chief Business Development Officer, Aspen One. In this new role, John will lead enterprise-wide partnerships, sponsorships, events, summer expansion, and broader business development and sit on the Aspen One Executive Leadership Team. This is an expansion of his current role and will now extend across all Aspen One business units. John has been with the company for 36 years, holding multiple roles and leading various businesses across ASC throughout that time. He has been the force behind some of our biggest endeavors in building an events business that hosts the world’s highest levels of competition, from Alpine World Cups & World Cup Finals to Grand Prix events, 24 years of X Games, and the development of multiple homegrown athletic and lifestyle events. An active community contributor, his leadership, passion and vision for the future will ensure Aspen One’s leadership in developing our business across all of Aspen One.
• Susan Cross, currently Mountain Manager of Snowmass, has been promoted to Vice President of Mountain Operations, Aspen Skiing Company. Susan has been with the company for 34 years, starting in guest services at Snowmass, rising through the ranks to Director of Guest Services at Snowmass, later becoming Mountain Manager at Buttermilk. In 2018, she returned to Snowmass as General Manager. Her impact has been significant since taking the helm at Snowmass, leading the resort to a No. 1 ranking on Conde Nast top resorts list. In her new role, Susan will oversee all mountain operations functions across all Aspen Mountain, Snowmass, Aspen Highlands, and Buttermilk.
• Steve Stout has joined as Vice President of Rental and Retail, Aspen Skiing Company. Steve has taken over leadership of Rental and Retail from Ian Stuart, who was recently promoted to Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives, Aspen One. Steve joins the company from Fjallraven, where he spent 10 years leading brand retail and e-commerce across North America and Europe. As Steve hits the ground and integrates with our team, he’ll be focused on developing a best-in-class consumer experiences, which will reshape our rental and retail businesses going forward.
• Trip Riggs recently joined us as our new Senior Vice President of Finance, Aspen Skiing Company. He has more than 20 years of experience in enterprise financial leadership and brings a unique perspective to the role with deep financial leadership experience in mountain operations, hospitality and service industries, real estate, and development. Trip also has deep experience in mountain resorts and hospitality finance while at Vail Resorts and spent time as CFO at Balfour Senior Living and Omni Hotels & Resorts.

“These leaders represent our values in such clear ways,” said Geoff Buchheister, CEO of Aspen Skiing Company. “They are shaping the future of our tight-knit community, elevating our trail-blazing culture, and are the right people to continue our legacy of living fully, honoring people and place, taking the long view, and pursuing excellence.”