Job Search: Utah Avalanche Center looks for someone to take on role of Executive Director

The Utah Avalanche Center (UAC) is one of the leading names in avalanche safety and education the world over, and the current Executive Director, Paul Diegel, has been an undeniable influence on the growth and success of the organization. But after 15 years, he is ready to retire. We caught up with Diegel to hear more about who he is looking for to take on the role of the incoming E.D. of the UAC. Here’s what he had to say.

Backcountry Magazine: Why are you looking for someone to fill this role?

Paul Diegel: I started working for the Utah Avalanche Center probably about 15 years ago. About nine years ago, I started working for the UAC as a paid contractor and then ultimately as an employee. My background was in engineering and small business consulting. When I first joined the center, it was an entirely volunteer run organization, but it was growing fast—fast enough that volunteers couldn’t keep up with it. And so I essentially created a job for myself where I was the only paid employee. I started to run business operations, and I have been doing that for nine years now, and I am getting ready to retire. So, I am looking for somebody to take over this position. In the last nine years we have grown the organization something like 10-fold in a period dominated by recession, when a bunch of nonprofits in Utah went out of business.

We have this tremendous business model; we have tremendous local support; we have lots of opportunities and a couple of employees now. But we’re looking for a new person to come in a take the reigns.

BCM: Why is it important for a candidate to have both an interest in skiing and avalanche education and also in business management and marketing?

PD: As cool as this organization is, we are still a nonprofit business. We pay rent for an office, we have to make payroll, we have to figure out where our people are going each day and we need to raise money. A big issue is figuring out how we support avalanche education. This is not just a government-funded program. The money does not just come in magically. We apply for foundation grants, we solicit personal donations. I spend most of my time essentially running a small business, and our product is avalanche safety, which is a cool product.

BCM: What suggestions would you give to a potential employee looking at this job?

PD: What I would say to that person is that this is a way to take your professional business skills and apply them in a totally different world—in the avalanche world. A future executive director will become the brains and the hands of this operation—it is their baby. For someone who is excited about small business, making a difference and being the boss and taking responsibility, it is a great way to achieve that and combine passion with business skills. And it is with a great team in a great industry.

BCM: What are the major perks of the job?

PD: The major perks are the sense of accomplishment, the ability to work with a fantastic team and the ability to not have any guilt put on you for taking a powder day. It is a very flexible schedule; we are a lot less busy in the summer. It is a year-round, full-time job, but there is a lot of flexibility in the off-season.

BCM: What kind of a learning curve will there be with avalanche education for this applicant?

PD: I think getting the knowledge to do the job well will be pretty easy. There is certainly going to be a learning curve, there is a lot to learn, and I do think we are going to require a future hire to come into this job with backcountry skills and passion, because they are going to need to be able to get out into the snow and move around and be credible. But they’re going to be getting a chance to take free classes, they are going to be hanging out with some of the world’s best avalanche experts that they will get to ski with and hang out on a skin track all day. They are going to be working in this environment every day, so they will very quickly get to be, if not avalanche experts, pretty close to it.

The other unique aspect of this is that the UAC is a partnership organization. So a big part of this is co-leading the organization with another individual who works for the Forest Service. And the job requires a lot of figuring out how to work collaboratively, and that has a lot of challenges, but it also has great power.

If you know how to run a business and run operations, and are excited about the snow, this could be a cool opportunity.

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The application deadline for the position of Utah Avalanche Center Executive Director is December 1. The job will be starting April 1, 2017.