Episode 104: How To Grow an Already Established Brand With Karl Strand
Release Date: 03/05/2024
Episode 273: How DECD is Empowering Maine's Youth, With Kaylin (Kay) Kerina
The PR Maven Podcast
This PR Maven Podcast® episode features Nancy's conversation with Kaylin (Kay) Kerina, the Maine Career Exploration program manager in Portland, Maine. Kay shares her journey from a varied career background to youth workforce development, emphasizing the importance of helping young Mainers find meaningful employment opportunities. She discusses her work in social justice, youth advocacy and community outreach, aiming to implement systemic change and support communities through a trust-based approach. The Maine Career Exploration program, part of the Department of Economic and Community...
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Episode 54: Achieving Success in Marketing and Your Career, With Michelle Hood
The PR Maven Podcast
Michelle Hood is the president and CEO at Northern Light Health in Brewer, Maine. She came to Northern Light Health in April 2006 from Billings, MT, where she was president and CEO of the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth Health System, Montana Region, as well as president and CEO of its flagship hospital, St. Vincent Healthcare. As president and CEO of Northern Light Health, she focuses on health care policy and design models at the state and national levels.
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Episode 184: Lessons of Intention From a Tiny Kitchen, With Annie Mahle
The PR Maven Podcast
In this episode, Annie Mahle shares some of the lessons of intention she learned from working in a tiny kitchen on her windjammer and how those lessons can spread to your life overall. Annie defines what a tiny kitchen is and how working in a tiny kitchen inspired her to write a cookbook, “ to help others with tiny kitchens. Annie also talks about how she has built her personal brand around intention, from using all the food in the fridge, to what she brings into her home, to her morning routine. In addition to discussing the benefits of PR, Annie shares how she puts together her...
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Episode 56: A Careers Worth of Tips Every PR Practitioner Should Know, With Chip Carey
The PR Maven Podcast
With 46 years of experience in the ski industry, Chip Carey has held positions at many ski resorts across the country. Carey worked at Sugarloaf for 26 years, filling roles in sales, marketing and public relations. From his experience building Sugarloaf as a skiing destination to the launching of new brands, Carey has been involved in many aspects of ski resort operation. His experience made him a stand-out candidate for his most recent position at the Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.
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Episode 272: Crafting Words That Sell: The Art of Copywriting with Stephen Church
The PR Maven Podcast
In this episode of The PR Maven® Podcast, host Nancy Marshall speaks with Stephen Church from Copywriter Pro, covering a wide array of topics from Stephen's background in psycholinguistics and his journey from teaching English globally to entering the family retail business and eventually founding Copywriter Pro. They delve into the significance of Freelance Writers Appreciation Week, Stephen's deep dive into SEO and commercial copywriting and their collaboration on the PR for the commemorative china for Prince William and Kate's royal wedding. The conversation navigates through Stephen's...
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Episode 198: How To Combine PR and Personal Branding To Create Success for Your Business, With Amber Lambke
The PR Maven Podcast
How can you combine PR and personal branding techniques to make your business successful? In this episode, Amber Lambke, co-founder and CEO of , shares her business success story. Amber explains how the topic of grains was missing from conversations, how she helped start Maine Grains, and how she uses speaking engagements to start conversations and inspire others within the industry. In addition, learn who the famous Maine Grains customer is, and how Amber has been on her baking show! 00:00 Introduction to the PR Maven® Podcast 01:26 Introducing Guest: Amber Lambke ...
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Episode 164: How to Adapt to Changing Customer Preferences, With Dana Bullen
The PR Maven Podcast
From running the rental shop at Sugarloaf to becoming president of Sunday River, Dana Bullen joins Nancy to talk about his career in the ski business. While it may have been all about the snow when he started his career, Dana describes how people also take their experience into consideration, from the food to guest services. It all comes back to the snow at the end of the day, so Dana describes the importance of snowmaking and how Sunday River shares the snow conditions with their audience.
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Episode 104: How To Grow an Already Established Brand With Karl Strand
The PR Maven Podcast
Karl was promoted to the position of Sugarloaf’s general manager in April of 2015. Strand has held a leading role in managing key segments of Sugarloaf's operations, as well as those of its sister resort, Sunday River. He began his career at the resorts in 2004, when he was hired as Vice President of Lodging and Property Management for both resorts. Most recently he was the Vice President of Mountain Operations at Sunday River.
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Episode 271: Does Public Relations Play a Role for Churches and Religious Ministries? With Liz Williams
The PR Maven Podcast
In this PR Maven® Podcast episode, host Nancy Marshall sits down with Liz Williams, the communications manager for the Episcopalian Diocese of Georgia to discuss her journey to this unique position. Liz elaborates on her journey from a marketing undergraduate to eventually working in the church's youth and children ministries. She also recounts her experience with a non-profit for mental and behavioral health before becoming communications manager. Nancy and Liz discuss the varied responsibilities, including managing social media, public relations and larger church communications. Their...
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Episode 61: How To Positively Impact Lives Everyday Starting With How You Treat Your People With Sean Riley
The PR Maven Podcast
Sean Riley began running a 19-room motel & cottage business in Wells, Maine, in 1982 with his wife Dayna, while teaching high school special ed., moving to a larger condotel three years later and then to a 130-room hotel, restaurant and marina. He switched full time into the hotel business, giving up his career as a teacher. MCHG started as a restaurant company with one hotel. Today, MCHG has 20 hotels and 750 associates throughout New England and in Florida.
info_outlineIn this episode, Karl Strand shares the path his career has taken to become the general manager at Sugarloaf. Karl explains how his parents’ love of restaurants led him to a career in food and beverage operations, which also led him back to Sugarloaf, where he discovered his love of skiing in his younger years. After working his way up, Karl became the general manager at Sugarloaf. Nancy and Karl reminisce and share stories as well as talk about the powerful Sugarloaf brand and community. Karl also talks about plans for the future.
00:00 Introducing Guest: Karl Strand
01:45 Introduction to the PR Maven Podcast
02:46 How Karl’s Parents’ Love of Restaurants Led to His Career Path
06:25 The Benefits of a Well-Rounded Background in a Leadership Position
07:32 The Sugarloaf Community
12:14 How To Engage Audiences of All Ages
14:22 The Legend of Paul Shipper
17:05 Sugarloaf’s Powerful Brand Symbol
23:35 Instilling Company Values in Employees
30:10 The Values of Surveys for Decision-Making
33:12 Sugarloaf’s 2030 Plan
39:00 Helpful Resources
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About Karl
After graduating from Bryant University, Karl Strand entered the lodging industry and soon discovered his passion for food and beverage operations. This led him to work in fine dining venues in nearly every region of the United States, and toward his completion of studies at the Culinary Institute of America. Karl began his career at Sugarloaf and Sunday River in 2004 when he was hired as Vice President of Lodging and Property Management for both resorts. He has held a leading role in managing key segments of Sugarloaf and Sunday River's operations. In April 2015, Karl was promoted to the position of Sugarloaf’s general manager.
Bonus Q&A
1. Tell us about your expansion plans on West Mountain and where you stand in the process currently.
Bucksaw Express and the West Mountain Trails opened on February 16, 2024. The ribbon cutting and opening to date have been a tremendous success with lots of positive feedback. The addition of nine new trails and a high-speed quad increases our capacity and helps spread out the number of guests we can accommodate both in terms of trails and lift lines. It’s notably the largest single-year terrain expansion done in the East, at least since the 1970s.
The new zone provides opportunities for future growth, including summer weddings at Bullwinkle’s and real estate development.
All trails as part of the West Mountain Expansion were intentionally designed for those who like to cruise and keep it mellow. All are green circle terrain except two, so it bodes well for families and those just learning to ski or for those that prefer easier terrain. It’s unlike anything we have at Sugarloaf and changes the way we ski/ride our mountain.
2. What is it about Sugarloaf that continues to draw more and more skiers and snowboarders every year?
Community. The community and varied terrain. It’s a real skiers’ mountain, and with the addition of West Mountain, we truly have it all. From above tree line skiing to now wide-open mellow cruisers, Sugarloaf has the opportunity to attract even more people here and keep them coming back.
3. What events do you have planned for 2024 that you are most excited about?
Resort activations have been building off the excitement and success of our annual Spring Reggae Festival by adding new events like EDM (Electric Dance Music) in January, Fire on the Mountain, a weekend totally dedicated to Grateful Dead music in February and now, adding a Country Music Weekend to the line-up in March. This year's Country Music Weekend will be completely free all weekend long.
A once-in-a-lifetime event is coming right up with Sugarloaf being right in the path of the solar eclipse. We are anticipating an influx of Sugarloafers and first-time visitors, so we are planning a weekend full of music and events during the first-ever Sugarloaf SkiClipse, taking place from April 5-8, 2024. Sugarloaf will be in the path of totality on Monday, April 8th at approximately 3:30 p.m. It’s going to be unreal and an event not to be missed.
In May, we kick things off with our annual Sugarloaf Marathon which is a Boston Marathon qualifier, then head right into the summer as we welcome back the International XTERRA running event over Labor Day Weekend. We’ll have plenty of mountain biking and golf activities as well, so be sure to check out sugarloaf.com for the growing calendar of events.
Lastly, as I previously mentioned, as part of the West Mountain Expansion we are also exploring the next phase of real estate offerings. We’re looking forward to helping more and more Sugarloafers build the home of their dreams and settle here in the Carrabassett Valley.