POWDR CEO, Building an Adventure Lifestyle Company & Managing Adversity with Justin Sibley

Justin Sibley is the CEO of POWDR, an adventure lifestyle company that owns some of the best resorts on earth, including Copper Mountain, Killington, Silver Star and more. Justin is a fellow Fuqua MBA graduate who was the Vice President of Finance at Backcountry.com before becoming CFO and then co-President of POWDR. POWDR also owns Woodward. If you know anything about board sports, you know that Woodward is the leading name in action sports progression and innovation with facilities across North America. Justin and I talk about how he has been able to help leverage the Woodward brand and assets across POWDR’s portfolio of resorts.

As an international company with properties in different states and provinces, we talk about the challenges of running a hospitality business during the pandemic. Justin and the team at POWDR put on a master class on adjusting to adversity. He shares a lot of great insights and wisdom for managing a massive organization through COVID-19.

This episode was a lot of fun for me. As a life-long shredder with a failed pro-snowboard career, I got to geek out on both business and the snowboard industry. If you love the outdoors, action sport or just want to learn more about scaling a large complex organization, this podcast is for you.

Discussion Topics:

(3:11) New offerings at POWDR.

(4:54) The business strategy of expanding into more year-round offerings.

(12:51) Woodward … perhaps one of the greatest strategic acquisitions ever?

(21:53) Woodward Park City build and opening.

(24:02) Managing through COVID-19 with 8,000 employees.

(30:29) Playing forever and focusing on environmental protections.

(34:25) Advice for people looking to build a career in outdoor adventure lifestyles.

(37:47) Rapid fire.