News Briefs

“All in the Family,” Part II; Triple Peaks’ Ethan Mueller moves East

 

Submitted

ETHAN  MUELLER

By Karen D. Lorentz

Ethan Mueller, president of Crested Butte Mountain Resort and senior vice president of Triple Peaks, LLC, has relocated to New London, N.H., which is close to the company’s Mount Sunapee and Okemo Mountain Resorts.

“My job hasn’t changed with the move,” Mueller told the Mountain Times, noting that his work with Triple Peaks entails working with all three general managers at the resorts, which he has been doing for several years now.

Parents Diane and Tim Mueller formed Triple Peaks in 2002 and purchased Crested Butte in Colorado in 2004. (They previously had purchased Okemo in 1982 and Mount Sunapee in 1998.) Both Ethan (39) and his sister Erica Mueller (35), who works at Crested Butte, are actively involved owners of Triple Peaks with their parents.

Ethan and Erica also share their parents’ passion for the ski industry and grew up helping out at Okemo from an early age. Ethan recalled his first job was cleaning cafeteria trays at age 11. He progressed to part- and full-time work, gaining experience in various departments. He left for a year after college when he moved to Northstar at Tahoe and worked on the trail and grooming crews. He returned to Okemo when Vice President of Mountain Ops Barry Tucker asked him to head up the snowboard and pipes program.

Ethan joined Crested Butte in March 2004 as assistant director of operations, then director. He became vice president and general manager in 2011 and president in 2014.

“With Triple Peaks, a family-owned and operated company, I became more and more involved and eventually was given the formal title senior vice president,” he said. In that capacity, he has visited the Eastern areas every five or six weeks and has enjoyed working with the three resort teams for quite a while now, he added.

Asked if the relocation is part of an exit strategy for his parents, Mueller said, “There is no short-term plan of our folks exiting the company or even retiring—they will continue to be involved. This change is more one of a continual evolution. Over time they might get closer to retirement, but they are not there yet.”

He added, “I don’t foresee them not being involved,” a statement that reflects their well-known dedication to and enjoyment of the resort business.

Expounding on the move, Ethan noted that in conjunction with the evolution of the company, they “had decided as a family that his relocation would make sense for both his family and the company. We began discussions quite a while ago but with no schedule; my family—wife Katy and three children—moved in June after we had found a house,” he said.

“While my job hasn’t changed, I will work more frequently with the East Coast teams,” he added, noting the management teams remain the same.

He will also continue working with Crested Butte where he stays on as president.

Erica, who works in communications and is director of innovations and relations, is currently “stepping into some of my role,” Ethan said of her “evolving role of moving more into overall operations and an ownership role.”

Asked if she is following in her mother’s tracks, Ethan agreed, noting Diane’s preferred title, “director of stuff,” and her involvement in myriad departments at all the resorts. (Diane’s title is officially executive vice president and Tim’s is president of Triple Peaks. They split their time among the three areas.)

“Erica and I are taking on more responsibilities slowly but surely and some day they might hand over the reins to us, but with their love of what they do, there is no long-term plan—it’s just something that will happen over time,” he concluded.

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