By Polly Mikula
Phill Gross is a co-founder of Adage Capital Management, L.P. serving as managing director and healthcare portfolio manager at the firm since its founding in 2001.
His Killington story began in 1986 when he purchased his home and raised his family in the shadow of Killington Peak. He now owns two properties in the area, including one on the Great Eastern Trail. He cites his unique kinship with the resort, the community, and the mountain itself as the core reasons for joining the ownership team.
Phill is a director at several winter sports related non-profits including: Share Winter Foundation, Youth Enrichment Services, Winter4Kids, World Cup Dreams Foundation, the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Board of Trustees and the Killington World Cup Foundation.
Q&A with Phill Gross
Do you ski or ride?
I ski.
What are your ties to Killington?
I learned how to ski at Killington in 1985, bought a house there in ‘86 and have been there with my family for winter/skiing since. We now own two houses over in Killington East.
My background is not operational whatsoever. It’s more being very engaged in the winter sports community with Share Winter Foundation, the Killington World Cup Foundation and the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team. Skiing is a very energizing and uplifting sport. My passion is thinking about philanthropy and creating opportunity out there for inner city youth to experience the great winter outdoors. That’s why we started the Share Winter Foundation.
My wife, Liz, and I have four kids that all (obviously) ski Killington. They’re in their 20s and 30s now, but we’re still here. Last year we enjoyed the truly great skiing in March and April.
What’s your personal favorite trail on the mountain?
Scarecrow and Tin Man (those used to be unnamed trails, now they’re named) also The Stairs, Nowhere and Somewhere.
What’s your favorite type of skiing?
I’m a tree skier. I like to get away from the crowds. I gotta try to carve time out mid-week. I’m still a weekend skier, because of my schedule. If you’re able to ski on a weekday at Killington, it’s like a private mountain.
In the very best case scenario, how would you like to see Killington look 10 years from now?
It’ll have a brand new village. It’ll not only be the No. 1 physically, it’ll be the No. 1 ski mountain in the East — which it clearly is given the type of terrain, the variability the terrain, all the great things about Killington that we know and love — it’s also going to have probably the best village and ski-in, ski-out opportunity in the East. It’ll be a much more centralized community right around Killington’s base area, along with all the offerings up and down the Access Road.
So in that situation, everything about it will be the best in the East. But it’s not even best case scenario, it is the only case scenario!
What do you think Killington’s greatest strengths are?
The management team. The third party we used to help vet Killington told us they were “one of the best in the business.” And that told us to just leave them alone and let them do what they do. None of us [investors] have operating experience.
Is there a specific project that you’ll be pushing to prioritize?
No.
One of the first things we did was look at all the lifts and kind of prioritize what needs to be upgraded and when, both from a customer flow basis as well as just the the age of the lifts themselves. So there’s a whole plan that’s been laid out that we’re going to follow, if not accelerate.
How does Pico fit into the mix?
I don’t think we’re going to do anything different. Pico is profitable and is a popular mountain the way it is. It’s got its own culture and community. We’re not going to disturb that at all. It’s definitely part of the acquisition and part of the Killington atmosphere, so to speak, but at least for the foreseeable future, it’s doing what it needs to do.
The Killington World Cup Foundation has given some significant grants to help the racing slopes there in recent years and we’ll continue to upgrade snowmaking.
What changes can the community expect to see first?
We’ll probably spend more money than POWDR did on things like maintaining the existing lifts and the existing infrastructure, because that enables everything to last longer… it’s something that Mike [Solimano] really, really wants to do. And it makes sense to do when you’re planning for the long-term.
I think after the closing there’ll be some announcements that give people better clarity on investments planned for the next two to three years. I think people will be surprised with what our plans are over the next five to seven years. We are accelerating plans on some capital spending. We actually already got permission from POWDR to spend some money before we closed. I think that tells you how aggressive this group is going to be.
