Raelene Davis Honored with Lifetime Achievement Award - April 3, 2014

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH – The North American Snowsports Journalists Association (NASJA) awarded Raelene Davis, Ski Utah Vice-President of Marketing and Operations, the Lifetime Achievement Award on March 27, 2014 at Killington Resort in Vermont during NASJA’s annual meeting.  The award honors a lifetime of snow sports related innovation, competition, design and other endeavors. 

In 1985, Davis took a "stepping-stone job" with Ski Utah and turned it into an almost 3-decade career. Today under Davis’ watch, skier visits to Utah are up to 4.2 million and member resorts have fully embraced changes in technology and communications. Campaigns touting “The Greatest Snow on Earth” continue to give Ski Utah media exposure nationally and internationally.  As publisher of Ski Utah magazine, Davis delivers the dream of a Utah ski vacation to hundreds of thousands of ski enthusiasts nationwide annually.
 
Throughout her 29-year career, Davis has championed many successful initiatives to grow snow sports in Utah including Ski Utah’s 5th and 6th Grade Passport and 4th Grade Learn to Ski and Ride programs. Davis is also co-founder and chair of the national “Learn to Ski and Snowboard Month” and “Bring a Friend” initiatives that have introduced skiing and riding to over a half million people since their inception in 2009.  As part of these initiatives, over 300 resorts in 34 states offer highly discounted learn to ski and snowboard programs each January. 

Davis has a reputation of taking on issues of importance to North American skiing, tangling with the ‘king-pins’ of the ski industry and getting things done.
 
“I am honored to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from NASJA,” said Davis.  “But even more important than receiving an award, I am grateful for the opportunity to be an ambassador for Utah’s world-class resorts and instrumental in changing people’s lives by introducing them to skiing and snowboarding.”
 
Davis was inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame in 2010 and was a Torch Bearer for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.  She’s on the board of directors for the US Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and served on numerous other boards including president of the Intermountain Professional Photographers Association.
 
For media information or interviews contact Susie English at 801.433.2016 or susie@skiutah.com.