Board of Trustees

Ron Steele, Chairman

Ron Steele was elected Chairman in 2021 after having served on the Board since 2014. A 1972 Winter Olympian and veteran ski industry senior executive, Steele combines his passion for the sport with his business acumen to grow winter sports participation and the industry. He retired as President of Group Rossignol North America in 2018 after a 40-year career with the company. As president, Steele led North American operations and served on the global executive committee, advising c-suite members on global organization, acquisitions, and product line extensions. Under his leadership, Rossignol North America grew its winter sports apparel and equipment market share in all divisions for the brands of Rossignol, Dynastar, Lange, and Look. Steele has been recognized for his contributions to the sport and success in the industry as an inductee of the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame (2016) and the Crimson Club Hall of Fame at the University of Utah (2018).

In 1971, Steele was named to the U.S. Ski Team where he was U.S. Junior National Champion (1971) and U.S. Senior National Champion (1974). He competed in the 1972 Olympics and was a member of the World Championship team in 1974. After the U.S. Ski Team, Steele attended the University of Utah from 1974 to 1978. He skied competitively as a ski jumper for the university ski team and was the 1977 NCAA Champion.  

Tom Kelly, Chairman Emeritus

Tom Kelly, Chairman Emeritus, is the founder of Tom Kelly Communications, a public relations company that focuses on Olympic sports. Originally from Wisconsin, Kelly was the voice of the U.S. Ski Team for over three decades and has announced over 100 American Olympic medal wins.

As a writer, photographer, and inspirational public speaker, Kelly has worked in a number of important communications roles including as Public Relations Director at the Telemark Lodge, co-founder of international adventure travel company Worldwide Nordic USA, assistant Nordic director of the U.S. Ski Association, Public Relations Director and Vice President of Communications for USSA/USST, and Chairman of the FIS Public Relations and Mass Media Committee.

David L. Vandehei, Chairman Emeritus

David L. Vandehei, Chairman Emeritus, was born in Ogden, Utah and received a BA in marketing from Weber State University. He began volunteering at the Utah Olympic Park in 2001 for the World Cup and continued through the 2002 Winter Olympics, agreeing to help whenever the Park asked. He joined the Alf Engen Ski Museum as a docent with his wife, Susan, in 2002. He then served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees from 2009 to 2017.

In addition to being an amazing volunteer, Vandehei also has an impressive business background. He held an executive position at JC Penney for 32 years and has run his own retail businesses for eight years. His successful professional career took him and his family of five children to six different states, but Utah will always be home. Vandehei’s hard work, business prowess, and heartfelt community service have been honored with several awards and distinctions, including the 2018 Crystal Award from the Alf Engen Ski Museum, which honors those who have donated years of service and support to the museum and to the preservation of winter sports history.

Alan K. Engen, Chairman Emeritus

Alan K. Engen, Chairman Emeritus, started skiing at age two and was competing by age nine. Son of skiing legend, Alf Engen, Alan Engen was a five-time Intermountain junior ski champion and a five-time senior champion in both Nordic and Alpine events. He was an All-American skier for the University of Utah, a member of the U.S. military ski team, and a perennial winner in U.S. Masters Series ski events.

Engen has been honored by many organizations including the Utah Sports Hall of Fame (1991), the U.S. National Ski Hall of Fame (2004), the University of Utah Crimson Club Hall of Fame (2006), Utah “Best of State” (2007), and the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame (2009).

Passionate about skiing and history, Engen spearheaded the building of the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center and the Alf Engen Ski Museum. He has also authored two books on skiing, served as Chairman and President of the Alta Historical Society, and was a charter member of the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Ski & Snow Sports Archives Advisory Board. He has been involved at Alta Ski Area for over 50 years as a ski instructor, ski school director, and later Director of Skiing, and was a torchbearer for both the 1996 and 2002 Olympic Summer and Winter Games.

Mike Korologos, Vice President

Mike Korologos, Vice President, is a founding board member of the museum. For more than 60 years his articles and photographs on winter sports appeared in periodicals worldwide. His communications skills were instrumental in Salt Lake City’s successful bid to host the Olympic Winter Games of 2002, for which he served as communications director.

Barbara Yamada, Secretary

Barbara Yamada, Secretary, has worked behind the scenes for decades to help showcase the best of the Intermountain region’s athletes and events.

A native of Pocatello, Idaho, and a former IBM executive, Yamada’s journey through numerous winter sports domains includes being a Junior and Senior B racer, ski instructor, ski coach, certified referee, collegiate and Olympic official, and Executive Director of the Intermountain Division-USSA from 1973-1974. She was a charter member of the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation Board and of the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library’s Ski & Snow Sports Advisory Board, where she has served as Chair of its annual Ski Affair since 2000. She was inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in 2018 and has received numerous awards for her service and dedication, including the Snowsports Builder Award from the Far West Ski Association (2019) and the Hearts and Hands Award for Utah Philanthropy Day (2022).

Yamada’s work ethos expands well beyond winter sports. The University of Utah Athletic Department, the Adopt a Native Elder Program for the Navajo Nation, and the Park City Institute are among the beneficiaries of her tireless offerings.

Michael R. Maughan, Treasurer

Michael R. Maughan, Treasurer, is a founding Board Member of the Museum and has been its treasurer since its inception. A graduate of Utah State University, he began his career at Ernst & Young before joining the Alta management team as CFO in 1990. He has been the President and General Manager of Alta Ski Area since 2017. Passionate about the outdoors, when not skiing he enjoys fishing, hunting, backpacking, and wildlife photography. A 2013 recipient of the Boy Scouts of America’s Silver Beaver Award, he was recognized for his years of involvement in teaching boys life skills and taking them on adventures in the outdoors.

David Davenport

David Davenport was born in Tokyo, Japan, where he discovered his love of skiing as a child in the Japanese Alps. As an international executive specializing in corporate finance, Davenport has worked with companies in Europe, Asia, and in the United States. During his travels, he is always sure to check out ski resorts all over the world. Davenport is passionate about preserving the history of skiing in the Intermountain region. In addition to serving on the board of the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation, he also is president of the Alta Historical Society. At the Alf Engen Ski Museum, Davenport was integral in preparing the Ray Atkeson photography exhibition.

John A. Durham

John A. Durham is a Salt Lake native who began skiing at the age of five, raced on the Junior circuit for four years and for one year at the University of Utah. He joined the Park West Patrol in 1969 as a weekend volunteer and served for 27 years, 10 of those as Weekend Director.

Durham attended the University of Utah from 1962 until 1969, graduating with an MBA. He worked at many positions at DuMac, Inc., his father’s printing and direct mail business. He purchased the business in 1978 and grew the organization dramatically until he sold it in 2002. He still lives in Holladay with his wife Shirley and has two daughters and one son.

John joined the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library Ski & Snow Sports Archives Advisory Board in 2002 and became its Finance Chair in 2004. He has been a member of the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame Selection Committee since 2003 and became its Chair in 2013. He has also been a member of the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation Board since 2014.

Spencer P. Eccles

Spencer P. Eccles is a co-founder and managing partner of The Cynosure Group, a private equity firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah. After graduating from the University of Utah with a BA in History and BYU’s Marriott School of Management with an MBA, Eccles served in a variety of important financial positions in the state of Utah, including as Executive Director of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) for the State of Utah, Vice-Chair of the Utah Science Technology and Research (USTAR) initiative, Vice-Chair of the STEM Action Center, and as a member of the Utah Capital Investment Board (UCIB). He also serves on the board of the Spencer F. and Cleone P. Eccles Family Foundation and as an Advisory Board Member of the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation.

An avid skier himself, Eccles assisted the Salt Lake Organizing Committee in developing and overseeing downhill events for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.

James Gaddis

James Gaddis was a three-time winner of the nationally recognized Alta Snow Cup (1962, 1963, 1964), and was named “Intermountain Ski Racer of the Year” five times (1957, 1958, 1960, 1962, and 1963). In addition, Gaddis won the NCAA Slalom and Combined title and the U.S. National Giant Slalom championships in 1962. In 2010, Gaddis was awarded the prestigious Utah Ski Archives S.J. Quinney Award for his years of skiing prowess as a two-time NCAA All-American.

His post-racing career includes countless contributions to the development of skiing. In 1965, he initiated a youth ski racing program called the Gaddis Training Organization, which eventually merged into what became the Park City Racing Team. During the 1970s, Gaddis started the Utah Ski Racers Foundation and coached the Intermountain Junior National Ski Team. Gaddis was a founding board member of the Alf Engen Ski Museum, the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library’s Ski & Snow Sports Archives, and the Youth Winter Sports Alliance. He has also served as an Honorary Board Member of the National Abilities Center, twice the Chair of the Jimmie Huega Snow Express MS Fundraiser, twice the Chair of the U.S. Ski Team Intermountain Area Ski Ball, and as a member of two local hospital boards.

Gaddis has been honored by many organizations including the Utah Sports Hall of Fame (1989), the University of Utah Crimson Club Hall of Fame (1989), the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame (2005), and the Park City Rotary (2021).

Dr. Todd Engen

Dr. Todd Engen is an expert in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and is one of Utah’s top cosmetic surgeons. After graduating from the University of Utah School of Medicine, he completed an internship at LDS Hospital in Utah, an ophthalmology residency at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and a fellowship in Ophthalmic Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at the University of Arizona. He was selected as one of Utah County’s “Top Doctors” in 2018.

Grandson of Alf Engen and son of Alan and Barbara Engen, Todd Engen is an avid skier himself. Before attending medical school, he even taught skiing at his grandfather’s ski school at Alta Ski Area. He continues to ski and explore the slopes every chance he gets.

David Quinney

David Quinney is a professional photographer and grandson of S.J. (Joe) Quinney, whose Foundation provided a major portion of the funding for the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center, the museum building within Utah Olympic Park.

Nathan Rafferty

Nathan Rafferty was named President & CEO of Ski Utah in October 2005. Before changing roles within the organization, he served as Ski Utah’s Director of Communications for seven years, with previous experience at Park City Mountain Resort. His responsibilities include continuing to promote Utah’s 15 mountain resorts with a budget of approximately $3.5 million. As past chair of the Utah Tourism Industry Association and vice-chair of the Utah Office of Tourism board of directors, he works on both promotion and legislative issues on a statewide level. A Utah native and Park City resident, Rafferty has worked in various capacities in Utah’s ski industry, starting as an intern with Ski Utah the summer he graduated from the University of Arizona in 1994. In 2007, and again in 2012, he was named one of Utah’s “100 Most Influential People” by Utah Business Magazine. He was also on their “40 Under 40” list in 2008, received the magazine’s highest accolade - CEO of the Year - in 2018, and, most recently, was awarded the Park City Area Lodging Association’s 2021 Double Black Diamond award for his inspiration in Utah’s tourism industry.

Dr. Greg C. Thompson

Dr. Greg C. Thompson is a noted Western historian, author, and founder of the nationally acclaimed Utah Ski Archives at the University of Utah J. Willard Marriott Library.

A native of Durango, Colorado, Thompson received his master’s and doctorate degrees from the University of Utah, where he then served as Associate Director for Special Collections at the Marriott Library and as an Adjunct Assistant Professor of History until his retirement in 2022. In addition to being a prolific writer, researcher, and lecturer on the American West, Utah’s history, and Ute history, Dr. Thompson co-authored the ski book, First Tracks, published in 2001 with Alan Engen. The educator/historian was inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in 2014 in recognition of his contributions to skiing, including being co-founder (with the late Sue Raemer) of the Ski & Snow Sports Archives and founder of the annual Ski Affair, the Marriott Library’s popular fundraising award dinner whose proceeds help fund the Ski Archives. Dr. Thompson is a founding board member of the Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation.

Megan Collins

Megan Collins is the International Marketing Manager at Visit Park City. Born and raised in the Wasatch Mountains, her home base was at Alta/Snowbird throughout her childhood. She was lucky enough to have attended many of the 2002 Olympic events which instilled both her love for the Winter Olympic Games and her desire to support its legacy once she reached adulthood.

Collins attended the University of Colorado Boulder, where she was told “if you’re passionate about skiing, you should work in the industry,” and that’s exactly what she did--from shadowing her mentor Connie Marshall at Alta during her undergraduate studies, to her first post-college job at Crested Butte, back to The Greatest Snow on Earth at Snowbasin, to her current role at Visit Park City where she highlights all that Park City has to offer to media and travel trade representatives from around the world. Her favorite venue to showcase is Utah Olympic Park, especially the Alf Engen Ski Museum and the 2002 Winter Olympics Museum. Ask Megan to see her baby announcement in the Alta community newspaper, and you’ll understand how deep-rooted her love and pride for skiing is.