Resort moves forward under Lehman
By Emily Stifler Explorebigsky.com Managing Editor
MOONLIGHT BASIN – Moonlight Basin’s upper management has seen a restructure this summer, and since June 13 Greg Pack has been the resort’s president and general manager.
Pack has been Moonlight’s general manager for five years and will continue working in that capacity, as well. Before coming to Montana he worked two years at Intrawest and 14 at Vail Resorts. He has been a Big Sky Chamber of Commerce board member for four years.
Russ McElyea stepped down as Moonlight’s chief operating officer to take a job in Bozeman this July, and his position will not be filled, Pack said.
Other management changes include naming Chris Leonard, longtime technology director, as the new chief financial officer, and hiring Tom Hart as the new hospitality director.
“With them in place—John Knapton in mountain operations, Karen Lum in marketing, Mike Wilcynski in golf and Kevin Germain in development—we have all the key players so the transition [with McElyea leaving] has been extremely easy,” Pack said. That core team has been together for years, he added.
In January, an affiliate of Lehman Brothers Holdings officially took ownership of the ski and golf resort after a lengthy, three-way Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
As part of the reorganization, Lehman hired the Colorado-based property management company the Atira Group to work directly with Pack and other high level managers.
Together, they’ve redefined the resort’s budgets and accounting structure, and put together a proposed long-term development plan, Pack said.
“Lehman’s been great for us,” Pack said. “They’ve supplied us with funding when we needed to move things forward. When we have infrastructure to take care of, they’re on top of it—building roads, replacing snowmaking electrical lines or adding seating [at the Madison base area]. As far as being an owner with resources, they’ve been there and had that.”
Lehman has taken care to understand Moonlight as an asset and invest in the best places, Pack said.
As for a future sale of the resort—something rumored this spring—Pack said his team has been in conversation with Lehman but no decision has been made.
For now, he says, “The great thing is we have a bunch of talented people still here in all the key positions. I think the energy level up here has been really good, with [both] homeowners and guests. In Big Sky in general, I think there’s some momentum building.”
