OneBGV- June

This month’s employee spotlight is Derek Schade! Here is a little bit more about Derek:

• What is your role with BGV? –Assistant Engineering Manager at the Grand Timber Lodge
• Favorite part of your job? –It is really awesome working somewhere where everyone is on vacation. It creates very fun energy around the property. I really enjoy seeing everyone out and about enjoying what they love and doing my part to create Grand Vacations. I also love working for a company that puts so much emphasis on the employee experience. From the top down this company really emphasizes work/life balance and everyone within the company encourages each other to get out and have fun outdoors. There is nothing like getting some powder laps in before work!
• Favorite thing to do outside of work? –I love to be active. I am an avid snowboarder and golfer. Each of the last two winters I have spent around 150 days snowboarding. This last season I got more into backcountry snowboarding on my split board. Getting into the backcountry with your own manpower has been extremely rewarding and it also has given me a whole new perspective on the beauty and dangers of the mountains we call home. During the summer months, I try to golf as much as possible and I also mow greens at the Breckenridge Golf Club. Any other free time that I have I like to see concerts, camp, hike, raft, or anything else that gets me outside enjoying the mountains.
• What is your favorite place you have traveled to? –I have traveled to many ski towns around North America and Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia was probably my favorite. The village is amazing and you can walk anywhere that you need to go. The ski area is massive and has terrain unlike anywhere else that I have visited.
• What made you move to Breckenridge? –The snow! Before moving to Breckenridge I had spent many years traveling to Colorado to snowboard and quickly fell in love with the Rocky Mountains. When moving to Colorado I specifically chose Breck because of the town. Breckenridge is centralized between many ski resorts and it is not too far from a major metropolitan area which makes living in the mountains much more convenient. The town itself is a great place to live and has a lot of cool history. It has a small-town feel with only about 5,000 residents but with tourists coming and going, it creates a very unique and fun place to call home.
• And last, anything else you would like our owners to know about you? –I am from a large family. I am the youngest of 6 siblings and now have 11 nieces and nephews. This makes me really appreciate seeing families coming on vacation together and enjoying their time in the mountains.