The Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance (VOBA) announced Tuesday, Nov. 12, that the fourth annual U.S. Sen. Patrick Leahy Trailblazer Award has been awarded to Mike Solimano, president and CEO of Killington Resort & Pico Mountain.
The award, first given to and named for Sen. Patrick Leahy, honors an individual’s lifetime of service in Vermont’s outdoor recreation economy with special recognition for advancing advance sustainability and equity, investing in local communities and growing the Vermont economy. The award was presented in front of the more than 165 people who attended VOBA’s annual Outdoor Recreation Summit and annual meeting, held at The Woodstock Inn and Resort, Tuesday.
“It is truly an honor to be recognized by VOBA with this award,” said Solimano. “It’s easy to be passionate about the outdoors living in Vermont. Working at Killington has afforded me so many opportunities to give back to this amazing place and community. I look forward to continuing these efforts in the future and many more great years of adventure at Killington and Pico.”
In presenting the award, Lisa Lynn, VOBA board member and editor of Vermont Sports and Vermont Ski + Ride magazines said: “It took a village to bring Killington to where it is now and Mike Solimano, in his characteristically humble way, will tell you it’s his great team that’s at the heart of Killington’s success. But it takes a great leader to build and keep that team. There are few leaders in the ski or outdoor industry who are as visionary and effective, collaborative and community minded as Mike. One of the reasons he’s been so successful? He is out working with and listening to both customers and staff, and he seems to have filled in at every job at the resort, from driving buses to fitting boots.”
Under Solimano’s two decades of leadership, Killington has flourished, not only as the East’s largest ski resort but also as a place to build careers in the outdoor and hospitality industries, a pillar for the central Vermont community and a year-round hub for outdoor recreation that brings millions of visitors to the state.
Solimano created the innovative Beast 365 pass, which extends the traditional season ski pass to a year-round monthly subscription to all of Killington’s growing four-season oVerings such as the 30 miles of downhill mountain bike trails, the Adventure Center, golf course and more.
In recent years, Solimano has overseen the resort as it built the new K-1 Lodge, the largest in the East, and put in skier/rider tunnels under busy trail intersections to make the area safer.
During his tenure, Killington has become a regular host of the biggest sports events in Vermont, the Audi FIS Ski World Cup which brings 30,000 to the area each November as well as outdoor sports events such as the Fox US Open of mountain biking, Spartan races, archery competitions and more.
Solimano has worked closely with the community to build workforce housing and provided hands-on training for students at Vermont State University’s bachelor of science in resort and hospitality management. Proof of the program’s effectiveness is that at least two of Killington’s leadership team are graduates.
This past fall, Solimano has worked closely with Powdr, the adventure lifestyle conglomerate that bought Killington in 2007, to facilitate an amicable sale of Killington and Pico to a group of local skiers and investors.
Solimano has been deeply invested in the greater central Vermont community, serving on the boards of the Vermont Ski Areas Association, Killington Mountain School, the Vermont Futures Project, Rutland Regional Medical Center and the Vermont Business Roundtable.
He has also been on the frontlines of creating One Killington — a partnership forged by the town, the local business community, and Killington Resort and Pico Mountain and has worked closely with Great Gulf on the planning of a new base village and creating the infrastructure needed to make that happen.
