Dana Bullen '87, president and managing director of Sunday River, is the mogul of moguls

By Marc Glass (Winter 2008 issue)

From his office within the South Ridge Lodge of Sunday River, Dana Bullen ’87 has a commanding view of the ski resort’s 131 trails and 18 lifts.

And well he should.

As president and managing director of Sunday River, Bullen oversees all aspects of the Newry-based ski operation, including 1,500 peak-season employees, 1,600 rooms in three hotels, real estate development and sales, ski schools, and all on-mountain food, beverage and retail operations. With as many as 10,000 skiers a day to please (and another 2,000 patrons who are busy cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and tubing), Bullen’s tasks are as vast as the resort’s eight interconnected mountains spanning the southeast foothills of the Mahoosuc Range.

Though the job has its share of double-diamond challenges, Bullen sees the scope of responsibilities through rose-colored goggles.

“It’s a great job, and I’ve had a whole lot of fun with it,” said Bullen, who skis at least an hour a day to ensure the resort makes good on its most-dependable-snow-in-New England billing. “When you work in an industry that’s about having fun and creating memories, you have to have fun.”

And Bullen would know, since he’s held almost every resort job on his ascent from rental-shop technician to captain of the ski industry. The Farmington native made his first turns at nearby Titcomb Mountain and as a high school competitor helped Mount Blue clinch the 1980 state championship. While majoring in secondary education with a concentration in social sciences at UMF, he lived and learned the ski business at Sugarloaf/USA, making himself indispensable one position at a time. He segued from fitting rental skis and boots to managing the rental shop. Summers were spent working as a golf pro, which led to positions in sales and marketing. And, under American Ski Company founder Les Otten, Bullen worked as vice president of partnership marketing, managing corporate alliances with Pepsi, BMW and Sprint, to name a few.

While a willingness to play a variety of roles was Bullen’s lift ticket to career advancement, it also addressed the more fundamental challenge of simply staying gainfully employed in the ski industry.

“Among our 1,500 employees only 190 are full-time, year-round. Seasonal positions are plentiful in this business, but to establish yourself as a valuable year-round person, you have to be flexible and willing to tackle anything,” he said. “You have to understand what your own goals and objectives are and then make those known to people so you can differentiate yourself.”

Learning by doing in the ski business was vital, but Bullen said his teacher education background has been just as critical to career advancement.

“Managing people and processes requires being able to motivate people to work toward a common goal, just like managing and motivating classes of students to learn,” he said. “Learning how to relate to people and how to work with a variety of folks through student teaching and education classes has had a bigger impact than any business class I’ve had.”

Bullen breathes rarified air in ski industry management. What’s even more remarkable is that he’s firmly ensconced in the upper echelon at the age of 41. So, what’s next?

“My compass points to Maine,” said Bullen, who commutes from Carrabassett Valley as wife, Heidi (Stevens) ’90, teaches at nearby Stratton Elementary School. “Maine, especially the Farmington area, has a rich tradition in skiing. Maine is where I want to be. I can’t imagine doing anything else.”