bio.
BORN AND RAISED IN A SMALL VILLAGE AT THE FOOTHILLS OF new york’s CATSKILL MOUNTAINS, the home of woodstock, I ENJOYED SPORTS SUCH AS BASKETBALL AND TENNIS, BUT MY PASSION WAS ALWAYS IN SKIING. THIS PURSUIT STARTED AT THE AGE OF THREE AT OUR SMALL LOCAL HILL (WHERE SNOWMAKING WAS FIRST DEVELOPED). I THEN SPENT THE NEXT 15 YEARS FOLLOWING SKIING AND ALL ASPECTS OF THE SPORT AND INDUSTRY – FROM THE ANNUAL CONSUMER SKI SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY TO SKI TRIPS TO LARGER SKI AREAS IN NEW YORK AND VERMONT – BUT IT WAS NEVER ENOUGH.
WHEN IT BECAME TIME TO SELECT A COLLEGE, I TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE THE MOVE TO COLORADO, WHERE I ATTENDED THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER (DU) AND GRADUATED WITH A MARKETING AND INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS DEGREE. WHEN MY HOPES TO RACE FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF DENVER WERE DASHED DUE TO THE DOWNSIZING THE ALPINE PROGRAM, I TOOK ADVANTAGE OF THE OPPORTUNITIES TO WORK IN THE INDUSTRY, TAKING PART-TIME POSITIONS AT DENVER SKI SHOPS, ALPENCOURT AND HAGAN SPORTS, WHILE ALSO VENTURING OUT TO OTHER SKI AREAS ACROSS THE STATE, ALL IN THE NAME OF “MARKET RESEARCH.”
UPON GRADUATING FROM DU, I MOVED TO VAIL, COLORADO WHERE I WAS HIRED AT THE FAMOUS PEPI SPORTS. THUS BEGAN MY TRUE SKI INDUSTRY JOURNEY.
DURING THAT SUMMER, AT THE AGE OF JUST 22 I TRAVELED TO EUROPE TO FIND A UNIQUE SKIWEAR SUPPLIER I COULD REPRESENT AND DEVELOP IN NORTH AMERICA. THAT TRIP LED TO THE VERY NORTH OF EUROPE, TO THE SMALL CITY OF KEMIJÄRVI LOCATED ABOVE THE ARCTIC CIRCLE IN FINNISH LAPLAND WHERE I ESTABLISHED A BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH TORSTAI OY. MY NEWLY CREATED VAIL COLORADO-BASED COMPANY, EUROMODE LTD. HELPED DEVELOP AND FACILITATE THE GLOBAL MARKETING PLAN FOR A NEW BRAND FROM TORSTAI CALLED CLUB A AND SUPER A. TORSTAI/CLUB A WENT ON TO BECOME PERHAPS THE MOST VISIBLE SKIWEAR BRAND IN THE SKI MEDIA DURING THAT PERIOD AND WAS SOLD AT HUNDREDS OF THE MOST EXCLUSIVE AND PRESTIGIOUS SKI AND SPECIALTY SHOPS AROUND THE WORLD. CLUB A WAS A PIONEERING BRAND THAT WAS AMONG THE VERY FIRST TO CREATE SKIWEAR FOR THE “LOCAL” FREE-SKIER WHO WAS NOT COMFORTABLE WITH THE THEN VERY LIMITED BRAND GENRES: (SPYDER=RACE, BOGNER=HIGH FASHION, PATAGONIA=MOUNTAINEERING, ROFFE=MASS MARKET, FOR EXAMPLE). CLUB A PIONEERED A REVOLUTION AND PARADIGM SHIFT IN THE SKI INDUSTRY THAT STILL REVERBERATES TODAY.
EUROMODE LTD. WAS A FULL MEMBER OF SIA, THE NATIONAL SKI INDUSTRY TRADE ASSOCIATION. MY COMPANY ENABLED CLUB A TO BECOME THE OFFICIAL UNIFORM SUPPLIER TO the UNITED STATES NATIONAL SKI TEAM AS WELL AS THE NORWEGIAN AND FINNISH NATIONAL SKI TEAMS. CLUB A DOMINATED BOTH THE AMATEUR FREESTYLE WORLD CUP TOUR AS WELL AS THE WORLD PRO MOGUL TOUR, WINNING MANY WORLD CUP AND WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP TITLES AND MEDALS.
A CHANCE MEETING WITH BRUCE BENEDICT, SKI movie PIONEER GREG STUMP’S FILM PARTNER LED TO CLUB A SPONSORING AND BEING FEATURED IN WHAT MANY CONSIDER THE GREATEST AND MOST INFLUENTIAL SKI FILMS OF ALL TIME, THE BLIZZARD OF AAHHH’S AND ITS FOLLOW UP, LICENSE TO THRILL. NOT ONLY WERE THE FILMS MAIN STARS GLEN PLAKE, MIKE HATTRUP, SCOTT KENNETT AND LYNN WEILAND PLASTERED ALL OVER THE INTERNATIONAL SKI MEDIA WEARING CLUB A THEY HAVE MOVED ON TO BECOME SKI LEGENDS AND ICONS. BUT IT WAS MY BY-CHANCE INVOLVEMENT WITH THE MUSIC SOUNDTRACKS OF THESE FILMS WHICH REVOLUTIONIZED SKI MOVIES FROM THAT POINT ON. THIS HISTORY CAN BE SEEN IN GREG STUMP’S MOST RECENT FILM, THE LEGEND OF AAHHH’S, IN WHICH I WAS FEATURED IN AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW.
EUROMODE LTD. ALSO MARKETED THE BRAND PHOENIX AND THE BRAND TAPIS VOLANTS BEFORE TORSTAI OY WAS EVENTUALLY SOLD.
AFTER THE BIRTH OF MY SON STEFAN, MY then WIFE JACKIE AND I OPENED STATION VERBIER, A unique SPORTSWEAR BOUTIQUE IN VAIL VILLAGE FEATURING MANY EUROPEAN BRANDS FOUND NOWHERE ELSE IN THE UNITED STATES. AS AN UNFORTUNATE RESULT OF DIVORCE, I CLOSED STATION VERBIER AND EUROMODE LTD. AND MOVED BACK TO NEW YORK FOR 4 YEARS TO BE CLOSER TO MY YOUNG SON. THERE I BECAME THE SALES AND MARKETING DIRECTOR FOR THE LEGENDARY AND PIONEERING FRENCH SNOWBOARD BRAND APOCALYPSE, THEN BASED IN NEW YORK BEFORE THEY MOVED OPERATIONS TO Taiwan CHINA. APOCALYPSE WAS FOUNDED IN FRANCE BY SNOWBOARD PIONEER REGIS ROLLAND, OFTEN CONSIDERED THE “JAKE BURTON OF EUROPE” AND STAR OF THE CLASSIC APOCALYPSE SNOW FILM trilogy.
I THEN CREATED HUDSON VALLEY SPORTS, A REGIONAL PRINT SPORTS PUBLICATION SERVING THE METROPOLITAN NEW YORK, CATSKILL, DELAWARE AND HUDSON VALLEY MARKET WHERE I WAS BOTH EDITOR AND HEAD DESIGNER. I ALSO CREATED AND ORGANIZED THE EVENTURE98 SERIES OF OUTDOOR SPORTS EVENTS, THE LARGEST UNIFIED OUTDOOR SPORT SERIES IN THE EASTERN UNITED STATES. UPON MY RETURN TO VAIL I FOUNDED 1TO3GO A MARKETING AND GRAPHIC DESIGN CONSULTANCY WHERE my clients included SEVERAL MAJOR INDUSTRY COMPANIES SUCH AS GERMANY’S ICONIC BOGNER SPORTSWEAr and Sweden’s POC among others.
IN 2004 I RELOCATED TO BOULDER, CO TO BECOME THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT MANAGER AT SPYDER ACTIVE SPORTS THE LARGEST SPECIALTY SKI WEAR MANUFACTURER IN THE WORLD. AFTER LEAVING SPYDER, I WAS RETAINED BY POC SPORTS OF SWEDEN WHERE I MADE THEIR ENTRY TO THE AMERICAN SKI MARKET. IN 2005 I FOUNDED SKI RACING DEVELOPMENT (SRD), A SPECIALTY SKI RACE CATALOG AND EQUIPMENT SUPPLIER BASED IN THE VAIL VALLEY. SRD QUICKLY BECAME THE LEADER IN THE ALPINE SKI RACE MARKET WITH OUR YEARLY CATALOG BEING SENT TO ALL THE LICENSED ALPINE SKI RACERS IN BOTH THE USA AND CANADA. I SOON BECAME VERY INVOLVED IN SUPPORTING YOUTH SKI RACING WITH THE FORMATION OF THE SRD SQUADRA JUNIOR RACE TEAM AND THE “FAST SKIER” JUNIOR ALPINE SKI SCHOLARSHIP AWARD, DONE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH VERMONT’S WORLD CUP SUPPLY.
OVER THE YEARS I HAVE SPONSORED AND/OR SUPPLIED HUNDREDS OF YOUNG ATHLETES ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN BOTH FREESTYLE AND ALPINE RACING. THE SRD and SYNC SKI TEAMs TO DATE HAVE SEEN MANY OF THESE YOUNG ATHLETES DEVELOP AND MOVE ONTO BOTH THE USA SKI TEAM, THE OLYMPICS AND NCAA DIVISION 1 UNIVERSITY PROGRAMS. OUR MOST FAMOUS ALUMNA IS MIKAELA SHIFFRIN, A VAIL VALLEY LOCAL WHO IS CURRENTLY A FOUR TIME FIS WORLD SLALOM CHAMPION, 2019 and 2023 WORLD GS CHAMPION, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023 and 2024 WORLD CUP SLALOM CHAMPION, 2019 and 2023 Giant slalom and 2019 Super G World Cup Champion, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022 and 2023 WORLD CUP OVERALL CHAMPION, 2014 OLYMPIC SLALOM GOLD MEDALIST AND 2018 OLYMPIC GS GOLD MEDALIST.
THE “FAST SKIER” JUNIOR ALPINE SCHOLARSHIP AWARD, NOW ENTERING ITS 15TH YEAR HAS GROWN IN SIZE AND NOW OFFERS DUAL AWARDS TO DESERVING MALE AND FEMALE U16 USSA ALPINE ATHLETES. THE AWARD WAS RECENTLY RENAMED TO HONOR US SKI TEAM ATHLETES RONNIE BERLACK AND BRYCE ASTLE WHO WERE TRAGICALLY KILLED IN AN AVALANCHE IN EUROPE IN 2015.
SRD AND SYNC HAVE ALSO BEEN A LONG-TIME SPONSOR OF THE BEAVER CREEK “BIRDS OF PREY” FIS WORLD CUP RACES WHERE WE WERE AN OFFICIAL SUPPLIER AND LICENSEE FOR THE EVENT, YEARLY DONATING 600+ PIECES OF APPAREL TO THE ATHLETES AND KEY PERSONAL. I ALSO ADDED THE FORMER ASPEN FIS WINTERNATIONAL World Cup events AS A SUPPORTED EVENT.
IN 2013 I SOLD SRD AND TRANSITIONED IT TO BECOME A FULL COMMERCIAL WHOLESALE BRAND IN THE INTERNATIONAL MARKET UNDER THE SYNC PERFORMANCE BRAND NAME WHERE I WAS FOUNDER AND PRESIDENT. SYNC waS A PENDING USA AND CURRENT CANADIAN ALPINE SKI TEAM SUPPLIER AND OUTFITted MY ALMA MATER, THE multiple time NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPION UNIVERSITY OF DENVER PIONEERS SKI TEAM AMONG NUMEROUS OTHER NATIONAL AND REGIONAL PROGRAMS, TEAMS AND ACADEMIES.
IN AN EFFORT TO FURTHER FOSTER SKI RACING I SUPPORTED THE KEELY KELLERHER “SKI CAMP FOR GIRLS,” SKI AND SNOWBOARD CLUB VAIL, THE “INDEPENDENT SKI RACING” PROGRAM, “ICed-OUt racing,” “REDNECK RACING,” “TEAM AMERICA,” AND “JUNIOR TEAM AMERICA” AMONG OTHER SPONSORSHIPS SUCH AS THE ANNUAL ROCKY/CENTRAL U14 AND U16 REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS, ROCKY MOUNTAIN DIVISION SYNC COLORADO SKI CUP CHAMPIONSHIPS, NASTAR NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS AND THE GOLDEN ROSE, AMERICA’S LONGEST RUNNING ALPINE RACE AS WELL AS VARIOUS FUNDRAISING EVENTS IN THE SKI RACING COMMUNITY SUCH AS THE HIGH FIVES FOUNDATION and wounded warriors.
Recently I HANDLed THE MARKETING AND CREATIVE FOR M.T. IMPORTS/PARAJUMPERS NORTH AMERICA, A SUBSIDIARY OF PARAJUMPERS APPAREL OF ITALY. PARAJUMPERS IS A MAJOR INTERNATIONAL BRAND SOLD IN MANY OF THE WORLD FINEST RETAILERS SUCH AS BLOOMINGDALES, NORDSTROM, GORSUCH, SPORTING LIFE, PARAGON, HARRODS, GALERIES LAFAYETTE AND HUNDREDS MORE ACROSS THE GLOBE.
with Alpin-luxe, we Specialize in semi-private and private excursions, partnering with some of the most exclusive resorts that feature luxurious accommodations, world-class spas, farm-to-table cuisine prepared by Michelin chefs, fine wines, extraordinary side trips and the opportunity to receive expert instruction from championship coaches and athletes. Our destinations provide the perfect blend of adventure and comfort: incredible opportunities to ski, golf and bike, combined with unique amenities and superior customer service.
Currently I am providing consulting services for the German outdoor brand Advenate, an award winning innovator in the ski, Bike and Outdoor markets.
"There are precious few in the ski industry companies doing as much as Barry to help support and grow junior ski racing at the grass-roots level, supporting hundreds of athletes. Barry and his company have also become a leader in social media further pushing the boundaries and exposure of ski racing both in Colorado and elsewhere."
5-TIME TEAM WINNER OF THE VAIL AND BEAVER CREEK TOWN RACE SERIES, INCLUDING OVERALL INDIVIDUAL “OPEN” WINNER IN 1995.
ACTION SKI MODEL PUBLISHED IN POWDER, SKI AND SKIING, SKI BUSINESS AND SKIING TRADE NEWS.
FEATURED IN TV COMMERCIALS FROM SPRITE AND IN THE SKI FILM “GONE SKIING.”
IN SPRING OF 2012, COMPLETED A LIFE-LONG DREAM OF COMPLETING THE LEGENDARY 6-DAY HAUTE ROUTE ALPINE SKI TOUR FROM CHAMONIX FRANCE TO ZERMATT SWITZERLAND WITH MY SON STEFAN, A RECENT GRADUATE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO.
IN SPRING 2017, COMPLETED THE CLASSIC ORTLER TRAVERSE ALPINE SKI TOUR IN ITALY'S EASTERN ALPS.
30 YEARS PRIVATE PART-TIME SKI INSTRUCTION WITH THE VAIL AND BEAVER CREEK SKI SCHOOL
University of Denver - Daniels College of Business, Denver CO