{"id":469,"date":"2025-05-28T18:29:06","date_gmt":"2025-05-28T18:29:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/?p=469"},"modified":"2025-05-29T14:59:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T14:59:25","slug":"share-price-pr-mess-blamed-for-ouster-of-vail-resorts-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/28\/share-price-pr-mess-blamed-for-ouster-of-vail-resorts-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"Share price, PR mess blamed for ouster of Vail Resorts CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Faced with downward-trending stock prices and a series of blows to the company\u2019s image, including a ski patrollers\u2019 strike at one of its biggest mountains, Vail Resorts announced Tuesday that CEO Kirsten Lynch was stepping down after three and a half years at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>She was replaced by Rob Katz, her predecessor, who previously ran the Broomfield-based company for 16 years.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5449492\" class=\"wp-caption alignright size-article_inline_half\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" lazyautosizes lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/TDP-L-outside111022-cha-133.jpg\" alt=\"Kirsten Lynch is out as CEO at Vail Resorts after three and a half years at the helm. The board of directors replaced her with former CEO Rob Katz, who was her predecessor. Katz previously held the position from 2006-21. (Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post\" width=\"8065\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/TDP-L-outside111022-cha-133.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"5449492\" data-srcset=\"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/TDP-L-outside111022-cha-133.jpg 620w,https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.denverpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/TDP-L-outside111022-cha-133.jpg?fit=310%2C9999px&amp;ssl=1 310w\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Kirsten Lynch is out as CEO at Vail Resorts after three and a half years at the helm. The board of directors replaced her with former CEO Rob Katz, who was her predecessor. Katz previously held the position from 2006-21. (Hyoung Chang\/The Denver Post<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cAs Vail Resorts continues to execute its strategic priorities and transformational initiatives, the board believes now is the right time for this leadership transition,\u201d said Bruce Sewell, lead independent director of the board, according to a news release. \u201cRob has a strong track record of driving innovation and executing consistent performance at Vail Resorts and has played a critical role in the development of Vail Resorts\u2019 operations and long-term strategy for over the past three decades.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Patrick Scholes, a Wall Street analyst who covers the travel industry for Truist Securities, cited dismal stock performance and the company\u2019s negative image in the minds of many skiers as reasons for her ouster.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe first and most obvious thing is the share price under-performance under her leadership,\u201d Scholes said. \u201cYou can just pull up a chart of Vail Resorts and see the stock getting cut in half during that time \u2014 and this is against a very strong overall stock market comparative performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery year, they\u2019d give financial guidance (to investors) at the beginning of the season, and for the last three years they\u2019ve missed,\u201d he continued. \u201cYou only get so many opportunities as a well-compensated CEO to miss your financial expectations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Shares of Vail Resorts (NYSE: MTN) traded at around $355 a share right before Lynch was appointed CEO in November 2021. Shares closed at $151.50 on Tuesday, right before her dismissal, a decline of 57%. The price had dropped as low as $129.85 on April 8, a level not seen since March 2016. In a sign of relief, investors pushed the share price up more than 11% on news of Lynch\u2019s departure.<\/p>\n<p>A damaging 12-day ski patrollers\u2019 strike at Park City Mountain Resort in Utah that occurred over the 2024-25 Christmas-New Year\u2019s holiday season was one of several events that hurt the company\u2019s image, Scholes said.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\">\n<h2 class=\"widget-title\" data-curated-ids=\"6028063,6886235\" data-relation-type=\"curated\">Related Articles<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2024\/04\/22\/vail-resorts-skier-numbers-decline-2024\/\" title=\"Vail Resorts had fewer skiers but higher revenue in 2023-24\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title premium\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tVail Resorts had fewer skiers but higher revenue in 2023-24\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t<a class=\"article-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2025\/01\/08\/park-city-ski-patroller-strike-ends-vail-resorts\/\" title=\"Ski patrollers reach deal to end strike at Vail-owned Park City resort in Utah\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<span class=\"dfm-title metered\"><br \/>\n\t\t\tSki patrollers reach deal to end strike at Vail-owned Park City resort in Utah\t\t<\/span><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWhat a black eye on the company,\u201d Scholes said. \u201cWho ultimately gets blamed for that? The head of the company. That was not a good look for Vail. From investors I\u2019ve been talking to over the last year, (it was) just extremely frustrating. I think the board, they had to act.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lynch\u2019s tenure got off to a rocky start in the winter of 2021-22. The company slashed Epic Pass prices, which brought about a surge of pass sales, but several of the company\u2019s resorts went into the season under-staffed. That was due in part to the omicron COVID variant and high housing prices in mountain communities, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2022\/01\/28\/vail-resorts-complaints-epic-pass-staffing-colorado\/\">Vail Resorts felt a backlash in social media and\u00a0national news stories<\/a> alleging everything from long lift lines to unplowed parking lots, limited terrain and frustrated, overworked employees.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, the company has been the frequent target of negative attention on social media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe negative reputation in the skier community \u2014 some of it deserved, some maybe not \u2014 had gotten away from the company,\u201d Scholes said. \u201cIt lost the narrative of the quality experience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In an open letter to employees, Katz called Lynch a \u201ctransformative\u201d leader and thanked her for her 14 years with the company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am grateful for her leadership over these past three and a half years, during some of the most challenging times that our company has faced as we navigated dynamic events post-pandemic,\u201d Katz wrote. \u201cWhile our board felt that at this time, in this environment, it was the right decision to make a change, I, and the entire board, have a tremendous amount of gratitude for all that Kirsten has accomplished and for her immense contributions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Katz previously ran the company from 2006-21.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy most important goal in returning as CEO,\u201d Katz wrote \u201cis ensuring we align with all our stakeholders to deliver an Experience of a Lifetime for our employees and guests while driving financial success for our company, so we can continue to invest in and do the work we all love.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Per a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sec.gov\/Archives\/edgar\/data\/812011\/000081201125000044\/exhibit101severanceagreeme.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">resignation agreement<\/a> that Vail Resorts\u2019s Chief Human Resources Officer Lynanne Kunkel and Lynch signed on Monday, Lynch\u2019s effective resignation date was May 22. She will remain as a strategic advisor at the company with full pay and health benefits until September 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Lynch will receive a one-time lump-sum payment of $2.25 million, the equivalent of two years of her base annual salary. She is also entitled to a pro-rated bonus for the fiscal 2025 year, which ends July 31 and will be awarded her outstanding stock options.<\/p>\n<p>Lynch had another $5.2 million coming in stock awards that will vest or become hers upon departure. That was as of last summer, but the current number should be close to that. That is beyond the $2.2 million severance payment.<\/p>\n<p><em>Denver Post staff writer Aldo Svaldi contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/myaccount.denverpost.com\/dp\/preference\"><b><i>Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, The Adventurist, to get outdoors news sent straight to your inbox.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Faced with downward-trending stock prices and a series of blows to the company\u2019s image, including a ski patrollers\u2019 strike at one of its biggest mountains, Vail Resorts announced Tuesday that CEO Kirsten Lynch was stepping down after three and a half years at the helm. She was replaced by Rob Katz, her predecessor, who previously&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":472,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469\/revisions\/472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.agencywebdesigners.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}