Carol Arvidsson, Woodside – Director: Carol, along with her husband Pär, have been a homeowners in Bear Valley for over 10 years. Her two sons were members of the Bear Valley the Devo and Race programs from 2003-2009 and both are still active ski racers. Prior to being a stay-at-home Mom, she was a sales representative and regional sales manager in San Francisco for IBM and Siemens.
Carol has a BA from UC Berkeley and grew up in Menlo Park, California.
“I am passionate about Bear Valley and about the invaluable life lessons winter sports at every level gives to children and teens.”
Ron Capilla , Pleasanton- Director: Ron was raised in Pleasanton CA and spent most of his youth skiing in the Lake Tahoe area. His first skiing experience at Bear Valley was in the late 1970’s when he took a day skiing trip by bus with other students from his high school. After high school Ron attended California State University Chico and graduated with a BS degree in Business Management. After college he moved back to Pleasanton and began skiing more and more at Bear Valley due to it’s close proximity and the friendliness of it’s ski community.
His family purchased their “mountain home” in Arnold in the mid 1980’s and they have spent most of their family skiing time at Bear Valley ever since. Ron’s two children (daughter and son), both participated in the Skiing Bears and Devo programs. Their son also continued onto the Race Team for five years. Though they are now “empty nesters”, Ron and his wife still enjoy volunteering their time throughout the ski season by helping out with Race Team events.
Ron is currently the President of Can-Am Plumbing Inc. He is the past Treasurer for BVSEF and also serves as a board member and participant for various non-profits and charities in Northern California.
John Colonias, Danville-
Mike Comstock, Redwood Shores – President: Mike has been skiing at Bear Valley since 1993 when the Comstock Family, (Mike, Nancy, Zac and Mackenzie) found their ideal vacation home in Big Trees Village. Both Zac and Mackenzie learned to ski at Bear Valley and were avid participants in Skiing Bears, Devo, Race Team and now coach.
Mike has been involved with BVSEF since 2004 and its President since 2007. An avid skier since his teens, Mike’s passion for skiing included a college internship at Aspen Highlands, participation in the Corporate Ski Challenge and NASTAR racing. Mike’s professional career has spanned over 20 years with DHL Worldwide Express operating in a variety of management and executive roles. He has been consulting in the ecommerce, strategy and logistics areas for the 10 years with clients ranging from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Contact Mike
Jon Mahanna, Columbia-Director, Mountain Representative: Jon is currently the Director of Operations at Bear Valley Mountain. He has an extensive background in the snow sports industry. His prior positions includes President & General Manager of Angel Fire Resort, Director of Ski and Golf Operations at Angel Fire Resort, Director of Ski and Golf Operations at Big Bear Mountain, Director of Ski and Snowboard Services at Eldora Mountain Resort and General Manager of Dodge Ridge Ski Area.
In his earlier years, Jon competed on the professional freestyle circuit. Jon is an avid Masters swimmer. Jon’s two daughters were USSA alpine racers.
Kim Parco, Tracy – Treasurer: Kim grew up in Spokane, WA learning to ski with her father as a teen. She has had a passion for the sport and the outdoors which she has shared with her husband of 20 years, Fernando, and their four children, triplets Alexa, Bailee, and Corinne, as well as son and J6 racer Carson. Kim and her husband have been skiing at Bear for over a decade, and it is where her children learned to ski at a young age. Carson, age 8, has been in the Devo, Devo-Race and now Race Team programs. In addition to skiing, the family enjoys hiking, camping, and mountain biking together. Kim has worked in commercial lending for the past 20 years, and at Wells Fargo in Business Banking for the past 7 years. Kim has also served on several other non-profit board of directors.
Mark Phillips , Bear Valley - Director/NASTAR Coordinator: Mark is currently the General Manager for Village Operations for Bear Valley Resorts. With over 33 years in the snowsports industry, Mark brings significant experience and skills to the BVSEF BOD Team. As a former Level III Ski Instructor, PSIA Examiner & Clinician, trainer and race coach, both domestically and abroad, Mark has had the opportunity to follow the growth and evolution of the sport through the years and has maintained his passion and dedication in the development and success of young athletes in a wintersports environment.
As a founding member within the BVSEF organization, Mark returns to the BVSEF as one of the newest members of the current Board of Directors and will oversee the addition of NASTAR to the organization’s 2011/2012 event program.
Kris Rausch, Sunnyvale – Freestyle: Kris has been an avid skier all his life, growing up skiing in Upstate New York where his family had a skiing cabin near Gore Mountain. Since relocating to California Kris, Angela and their three children have spent most of their time skiing at Bear. Since 2009 they have been season pass holders. Bryce, Kameron and Charles have been in the Devo program for the past two years. The family loves skiing at Bear. Kris is looking forward to working with BVSEF to build a world class instructional program and putting a competitive freestyle program in place.
Kris has worked in the semiconductor industry for the past fifteen years and currently leads sales and marketing at a start up.
Claire Rouchy, Santa Cruz – Snowboard/ Freestyle: Claire skied twice in Europe before moving to the US 11 years ago. While her husband Christophe was already a talented snowboarder, Claire decided to learn to snowboard at the same time as her oldest son. He was 3 and half when he started snowboarding, but rapidly outpaced his mom. After taking many classes, Claire has been a member of the Bear Valley snowboarding adult team for the last 2 years and can now keep up with her family! (ok, they are still waiting for me but not as long – and I can ride almost anywhere)
Her two sons (Benoit 11 and Lucas 9) learned to ski and snowboard at Bear Valley, they both have been in the youth teams for the last 5 and 3 years (Devo ski and snowboard and now free ski and freestyle snowboard programs). Claire has been involved in BVSEF since 2010 as the freestyle parent representative. As you noticed Lucas is the only “full time” skier in the family, amazing Bear Valley Devo ski instructor George Stone is to blame for this situation.
Claire is an Engineer; she studied in England and France, worked for well known companies (Mitsubishi, Alcatel, Hewlett-Packard and Apple Inc.). She worked and studied in various countries including Spain, England, Norway, China, Japan and now the US.
Gary Smith, Brentwood -Gary Smith grew up in the Bay Area and lives in Brentwood for the past 11 years. He’s been Skiing at Bear Valley Ski Resort since the late 1970’s with his family and friends. Gary has literally grown up in the grocery business working for Safeway Stores since he was in high school and currently works as a Web Specialist in the company’s Corporate Communications group.
Gary is also been engaged with many non-profit foundations including (Easter Seals, MDA and Safeway Foundation) to help improve our communities. He is currently a member of the United States Ski and Snowboard Association and is a Competition Alpine Official. His son, Matthew, is a member of the Bear Valley Race (J3) Team, and also participated in both DEVO and in the Skiing Bears programs. Gary and his wife Charisse have been married for nineteen years and met on the slopes at Bear Valley. They love to travel, and being outdoors.
“My goal is to support the mountain with our athlete’s development and life enhancing values thru the BVSEF educational programs. I strongly believe the foundation helps build both life-long friendships and positive life lessons for all our members.”
Denise White, Capitola – As a young skier Denise came to Bear Valley with her family in the mid 70’s and fell in love with all that is Bear Valley. While taking the winter quarter off from college she started working for the Rasmussen Family of Mt. Reba and never left. Denise met her husband, Rick White while they were both living and working for Mt. Reba. Denise was an active member of the Bear Valley community during the 80’s, as a member of the Music from Bear Valley BOD for four years, working with the Lloyd Bridges /Robert Conrad celebrity Pro am raising money for the Jimmy Huega Foundation.
Denise and Rick left Bear Valley for 10 years and went to Tahoe where they got married and started their family. Eventually they left and settled in Capitola and returned to their family’s winter home to raise their kids on the Bear Valley Mountain. Rick returned to coaching masters, Devo and J4 for a number of years while Denise joined the BVSEF and became a board member. Denise and Rick’s children have both been members of the Bear Valley Race team starting in Skiing Bears and continuing through the program. Cooper is still active in the race community and Shelby will continue to pursue a part time coaching position through college.
While Denise is active in the Bear Valley community she shares’ her board experience in Capitola where she is the Vice President of the Capitola Junior Guard Board and is working full time for The Sereno Group of Santa Cruz.
