Today, I am excited to share that Okemo, Mount Sunapee and Crested Butte have all officially joined Vail Resorts, bringing our total number of resorts to 18. The addition of Okemo and Mount Sunapee, together with Stowe, forms a true northeast regional hub. In Colorado, with the addition of our fifth resort, Crested Butte, we are providing an enhanced and differentiated Experience of a Lifetime for our loyal pass holders.
We are also announcing today a number of leadership changes across our resorts to implement a structure we believe will best support not only the operational oversight of the resorts, but ensure the successful management of the integration of the resorts into our Company.
Doug Pierini, currently VP and GM of Kirkwood, will be assuming the position of COO of the Northeast Region, effective Oct. 1, 2018. Doug has been with Vail Resorts for eight years and I am confident his broad breadth and depth of experience will be valuable as he takes on executive oversight entire Northeast region. We are also announcing that Tom Fortune, previously Senior Director of Mountain Operations at Kirkwood, will be assuming the position of VP and GM of Kirkwood.
Effective Oct. 1, 2018, Tim Baker, previously Senior Director of Resort Operations at Beaver Creek, will assume the role of VP and GM of Crested Butte. Tim has been with Vail Resorts since 2007 in a variety of roles across Keystone, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek and brings a wealth of experience. We will shortly begin the search for a new Resort Operations leader at Beaver Creek.
Michael Kraatz will be leaving his role as the General Manager of Crested Butte upon completion of the deal. Michael has been at Crested Butte since shortly after the Mueller’s purchased the resort in 2004, and worked at Okemo previously for a total of 33 years with the Mueller family. Also leaving is Scott Clarkson, VP of Marketing and Sales. Scott also came to Crested Butte from Okemo and has been with the company for 22 years. I want to thank both Michael and Scott for their significant contributions to the success of Crested Butte and Okemo over the years and wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
From an operations perspective, all three resorts will remain business-as-usual. There are, however, a number of integration activities that will be taking place immediately and continuing over the coming weeks and months. Assuming those planned activities are completed on time, all Vail Resorts employees will have access to Okemo, Mount Sunapee and Crested Butte for the upcoming winter season. Work will continue into 2019 on the remaining integration activities and will not impact the ongoing activities at Stowe and Whistler Blackcomb.
I hope you will all join me in welcoming Okemo, Mount Sunapee and Crested Butte to Vail Resorts and congratulate Doug, Tom and Tim as they take on their additional responsibilities. I look forward to working together to create the Experience of a Lifetime for our guests and each other as one team.