Board of Directors

Eric Kutcher – President

Personal and Professional Background
Eric Kutcher and his family have been skiing at Kirkwood every weekend for the last 9 winters.  After having rented at Lost Cabin for 4 years, he adventured into ownership of one of the two new Timbercreek Townhomes over by Chair 8.  Eric is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, where he has worked for over 23 years.  He has held several leadership roles including leading the Western region of the US, the Global Tech, Media and Telecommunications Practice and is now the Global Chief Financial Officer.  He is a member of both the executive management team as well as a member of McKinsey’s Board of Directors.

Eric is married to Lauren Kutcher, and together they raise their 3 children – Dylan (15), Jared (13) and Andrew (9).  As former ski instructors, they taught each of their children to ski (both Jared and Andrew conquering the Wall by age 5.  Dylan and Jared were long-time members of the JETS and Jared is now a member of the Freeride team.

Homeowner Association Board and Related Experience
Eric currently serves as the President of the Timbercreek HOA.  Additionally, he served as the Treasurer of the 300 West 72^nd Street Board of Directors, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Woodbridge Country Club, where he shaped their strategic plan.  He currently serves as a Trustee of the Hopkins School (New Haven, CT) and was previously a Trustee of the UCLA Andersen Business School.

Personal
In his spare time, Eric is a diehard skier and competitive golfer.  He enjoys fitness (especially his Peloton and Tonal during these Covid times).  He played college baseball and golf at Cornell University

9 years ago, my family moved to CA rather unexpectedly.  One fall day, Lauren and I drove from our home in Los Altos to Tahoe, starting North and coming around the lake to arrive at Kirkwood.  We had no idea where we would find our winter home, but knew it was critical for us to find a place to give our kids the same winter experience we had both grown up with back east.  From the time we made the left-hand turn into Kirkwood Meadow Drive, we knew we had found home.  We appreciate the uniqueness of Kirkwood and all it offers – incredible beauty, a backcountry experience within its boundaries, and hours of time with family and friends. At the same time, I have longed believe there is another level for Kirkwood, with the KCA at the center of a more inclusive and connected community.  To that end, I would be excited to help lead a strategic planning process that:

Engages the community – to help define the most pressing needs of the community, while also helping to paint the art of the possible

Create a vision for the KCA (and in turn Kirkwood)

Develop a multi-year plan that aligned against our needs with an achievable economic model

As a business executive with over 23 years of experience working on some of the most challenging business issues across the world, I am excited to bring my skills to help the KCA.

Matt Jones – Vice President

Matt Jones started with Vail Resorts in 1998 and has held several roles in Human Resources. As the Corporate HR Director, he helped lead the relocation of the corporate headquarters from Vail to Broomfield, Colorado, in 2006. From the corporate office back to the mountains, Jones took on the role of HR Director at Vail Mountain in 2007, a role he held for 10 years. Most recently, Jones served as Vice President of Human Resources, overseeing the Colorado Resorts and employee housing initiatives. He’s also been a member of various boards including the Epic Promise Foundation and Vail Resorts’ Emergency Grants Committee.

“For over 20 years, Matt has been a key part of our Colorado leadership team,” said Pete Sonntag, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, North America West and Australia Regions. “His keen understanding of mountain operations and his true passion for the people who live, work and play in the mountains, will keep Kirkwood’s adventurous spirit alive and well.”

Jones and his wife have two sons. They pride themselves on being an adventure family that enjoys skiing, biking, paddle boarding and rafting together.

Gary S. Derck – Treasurer

Professional Background
Gary and his Mountainsprings LLC company is involved in various aspects of resort real estate development, sales and operations at some of the top mountain resort communities in the Intermountain West. These include the Kirkwood Mountain Resort community near South Lake Tahoe, CA; Purgatory Resort in Durango, CO; Angel Fire Resort in Angel Fire, NM; and Powder Mountain in Eden, UT. Gary’s specialty is overseeing the strategic positioning/repositioning of mountain resort communities and their associated real estate offerings including planning/entitlement, community development, second/vacation home product development, acquisition/disposition and strategic operating initiatives. Gary has also been involved in the strategic development/redevelopment of Taos Ski Valley, in Taos, NM and Caneel Bay, in St. Johns, USVI. He served for 8 years as the CEO of Kirkwood Mountain Resort and then 16 years as the CEO of Purgatory Resort/Durango Mountain Resort. Gary has secured approvals and led the operations and development of over 5000 new resort residential units and over 500,000 sf of commercial space in one of the largest and most comprehensive resort community portfolios in the ski industry. He has pioneered innovative solutions in resort/second home product, club & master association amenity structures, environmental programs, entitlements & approvals, system-built construction, financing, operational models and organizational structures. Previously, Gary served as CEO/General Manager of Loeb Enterprises, LLC, a master-planned community developer based in Reno, Nevada, which developed Coyote Springs (a 42,000-acre, mixed-use golf community near Las Vegas) and Wingfield Springs (a 1600-acre golf community in Reno). He was also the Director of Development at EDAW (now AECOM), one of the largest and most experienced development consulting firms in the United States based in San Francisco, CA.

Professional Interests and Expertise
Club & Master Association Operations, Resort/Hospitality Operations, Resort/Community Development, Sales and Operations, Single Family, Condominium, Fractional/PRC Residential Development, Resort/Community Planning/Design and Entitlement, System-Built Construction, Strategic Planning & Positioning

Education / Accomplishments
Gary has a BA from Cornell and an MBA from the University of Miami. Gary’s career is unique in that he evolved from a resort designer, to a resort developer, to a resort operator … and has developed/operated ski, golf and beach-oriented resorts in a wide variety of markets. He has pioneered a unique synergistic business model that allows operations and development to leverage the benefits (and mitigate the risks) of one another. Gary recently served as the Council Counselor for the Urban Land Institute’s national Resort Development Council, and as Chair of the Durango/La Plata County Airport Commission, as well as numerous local homeowners and civic association boards. Gary has been involved with numerous charitable and non-profit organizations in a variety of capacities over his career.

Contact Gary by email at gderck@durangomountain.com

Robin Heuer – Secretary

Robin Heuer and her family have been skiing at Kirkwood since 2006, when they purchased Unit 1 at Sun Meadows 1. Robin joined the Board at Sun Meadows and served on it for several years, notably during the renovation of Sun Meadows One. Robin is an attorney by trade, and practiced law in NYC with a specialty in real estate and real
estate development. In California, Robin had been COO, General Counsel and Board Member of various SF Bay Area companies before becoming a Real Estate Broker and joining her husband Jeffrey Heuer at Heuer, Inc., a real estate development and construction company. Heuer, Inc. has expanded its scope and is now actively engaged in real estate management, sales, development and construction.

Robin and Jeffrey Heuer are both from the East Coast, where they grew up skiing. Robin was an instructor at Okemo Mountain in Vermont and on the ski team at her college. She fell in love with Kirkwood the first time she skied it – the terrain, the snow and the magic that happens at Kirkwood. Robin & Jeff have 2 children – Sally (16) and Jack (15) who are active skiers and also
love everything about Kirkwood.

“Kirkwood is a special place for my family. We drank the Kool-Aid long ago and double downed with not only a condo at SM1 but a great duplex lot at Palisades. We have seen a lot of change at Kirkwood (from the days of Tim Cohee) and find those changes focused primarily on mountain operations and capital improvements to support a first class mountain. The build of
the new KCA was an extraordinary achievement and milestone, but there is more work to be done to support the homeowners and create an equally unique and elevated experience on the slopes as off the slopes. The KCA is the heartbeat of Kirkwood for the property owners and is the center of our community. I believe that with a strategic plan we can create a much more dynamic, inclusive and rich experience that would not only increase our enjoyment but increase our property values”

Michael Golub – Member at Large

Personal and Professional Background
Michael Golub and his family have been coming to Kirkwood every winter since 2009.  After renting in Timber Ridge initially, they purchased one of the Sentinels West units over by Timber Creek in 2013.  Michael is a Senior Director on the Finance team at DoorDash where he is responsible for evaluating M&A, investments, and business development partnerships.  Previously at DoorDash he was the finance leader responsible for Caviar and two other business units, and prior to DoorDash he was Head of Finance and Strategy at Sun Basket where he helped lead the company through 100x growth over 4 years.

Michael is married to Jo Golub and together they have 2 daughters – Laila (9) and Orly (7).  Laila and Orly each started skiing at 2 years old, did their first double blacks at 5, and have kept progressing from there.  They each started in the JETS program and as of this year transitioned over to the Ski Team where some serious little competitive spirits are starting to emerge.  You’ll find all 4 of us on the mountain every single weekend and holiday break from opening to closing.  In the summers, you’ll find us on our bikes, hiking, or in the lakes around Kirkwood.  

Related Experience
Michael is currently board observer of one [confidential] company.  He previously served as board member and treasurer of the Berkeley Bicycle Club for 5 years. 

Personal
The mountains and outdoors are Michael’s favorite place to be.  In the winter, he’s an avid skier and can occasionally be found out in the meadow on his fat bike.  In the summer, Michael spends time road biking, mountain biking, hiking, and backpacking with family.  In his fitter days, he completed the Death Ride 6 or 7 times.  In college and the decade after, he was a serious rock climber traveling across the US and internationally.