board of directors
Sarah Snedaker - President (She/Her/Hers)
Sarah was born and raised in Salt Lake City and grew up skiing at a different Utah resort, which shall remain nameless. Once she was required to buy her own season pass during her freshman year at the University of Utah, she made her way to LCC. While at the U, she double majored in Environmental Studies and Political Science. After graduating, she spent some time living and working in Alta, both at the Alta Lodge and eventually for ACE as the Director of Programs and Marketing.
During her time in Alta, when she wasn’t out searching for fresh turns, she was discovering her artistic abilities and starting her jewelry company, Sticks and Stones Design. She also found her true calling of becoming a therapist, thanks to ACE’s Mental Health Awareness events. She is currently in her final year of graduate school through Westminster’s Mental Health Counseling program. She is honored to return to ACE as a member and secretary of the ACE board.
Molly Austin- Vice President (She/ Her/ Hers)
Molly grew up in California and attended UC Santa Cruz, where she majored in Sociology. She moved to Alta in November of 2011 and started as a Sous Chef at the GMD, and have since also worked at Alta Lodge, Snowpine Lodge (old and new), Alta Ski Lifts, and started her current job working for the Town of Alta in May of 2022. She loves that LCC provides the space for newcomers to grow and flourish. She arrived thinking she would barely make it through one ski season, and left that spring knowing that she could make a life for herself here.
Maren Askins - Treasurer (She/ Her/ Hers)
Maren moved to Alta during the ’12-13 season where she started as a deskie at the Alta Lodge. After a deep season and endless pow days Maren went home to Bangor, Maine for the summer where she quickly realized Alta is where she belongs. Ever since then she’s been working year-round at the Alta Lodge as a deskie, wedding coordinator, and since 2018 the General Manager. “I’m honored to have the Levitt family’s trust, and it’s something I take to heart each day.”
Siri Wieringa- Secretary
Growing up, Siri lived up at Alta in the winter months, and up in Montana in the summer months. The Little Cottonwood community has been her home, and has loved attending ACE events since she was young.
She ski raced for Westminster University, and received a bachelor's degree in Social Science and English, and a Masters of Arts and Teaching. She was a classroom teacher for a few years, but fell in love with teaching kids outside and was a full time ski coach for 12 years. Now she has her own business in Salt Lake, Intention By Design, supporting clients as an Energy Healing Practitioner and Human Design Reader. Thanks to being the recipient of ACE's Well Being Grant, she is now also a certified Breathwork Facilitator.
In her free time you'll find her immersed in the mountains either skiing, biking, hiking or rafting, or playing with art and color.
Eliza Allen
Eliza was born and raised in Durango, CO, and her parents inspired a love for the outdoors and new experiences through their travel adventures. Her BA in Earth & Environmental Science put Eliza on a wandering path into the world of guiding, environmental restoration and body work.
Eliza was a PSIA ski instructor for 5 years at Crystal Mountain, bordering Mount Rainier National Park, during which time she also went to massage school in Seattle. She moved to Bend, Oregon and started ski patrolling at Mt Bachelor in the winters and working on a small cruise ship in SE Alaska in the summer teaching yoga, giving massages and taking guests sea kayaking and hiking. After a few years there, Eliza decided she wanted to see what other ski patrol opportunities were out there and she landed at Snowbird in 2013.
Eliza has found amazing opportunities and connections here in Little Cottonwood Canyon; fellow wandering spirits, good friends, private Grand Canyon trips, a ski patrol exchange to Grand Montets in Chamonix, teaching yoga for ACE and an introduction to the ski guiding world, which is where she is now working for Snowbird. She is passionate about growing her garden and can't wait to have more time to craft and create again. Eliza is also excited to give back to this community in a new way through the ACE board and new challenges ahead.
Nick Bolinder
Nick grew up in Boise Idaho, skiing at Bogus Basin. He moved to Alta after graduating from Utah State University in 2012 where he was a member of the Track and Cross Country team. He worked in the building maintenance department for Alta Ski Area until January of 2019, when He accepted a management position at the Snowpine Lodge. He also spent a couple of years at the Rustler Lodge and is currently the manager of the maintenance department at the Alta Lodge. He met his wife during his second season working at Alta. The way the Alta community has become family is what keeps them here. In his free time, you will find him skiing, rafting, and fishing.
Aubrey Burnett
Aubrey is from Salt Lake City and grew up skiing along the Wasatch Front and at Alta. After leaving Utah for college and making stops in Boston and the Bay Area, he eventually made his way home in 2016 and since that time has been an avid Alta passholder and supporter. He was engaged at Alta, married at the Alta Lodge, and is excited to introduce his young daughter to the mountains here. When not on the slopes, Aubrey is a Partner at Tower Arch Capital, a Salt Lake City-based middle market private equity firm focused on making control investments in family and founder-owned businesses. Aubrey is excited to utilize his finance and business experience to support ACE.
Neil Howard
Neil grew up right here in the Wasatch Mountains and did what all good ski bums do: go to college, graduate, then immediately move to a ski town. After three seasons working at the Alta Lodge, he decided he should try and utilize his education and moved to Oregon to pursue a career as a graphic designer. Cue the pandemic and he was telling himself the age-old lie of “I’ll move back for just one more season.”
Four years later, he’s still Salt Lake-based and couldn’t be happier. In addition to being a new Ace Board Member, Neil oversees his own freelance design business and works at Alta Java helping keep the local community energized and stoked. Depending on the season, you’ll either catch him grinding on the mountain bike pedals or ripping hot laps across Alta during power hour. Oh, and if you’re ever looking for someone to throw a good party and tear up the dance floor, he’s your guy.
Melinda Long
Melinda grew up on the east coast in the Adirondacks with only a small ski mountain, McCauley. She spent her honeymoon here in 2014 and always wanted to find her way back. She and her husband, Garrett, moved to Sandy with her family in 2019. They now have 2 kids ripping at Alta and have a profound love for Alta year-round.
In her free time, she loves to hike, mountain bike and ski in LCC. Melinda has attended many ACE events since her move and fell in love with the organization and mission. Melinda is very excited to be on the ACE board and continue her involvement in the community.
Advisory Board
Ellza Coyle O'Reilly | connie marshall | Paul Lippert | jim williams | Sarah mccloskey | Hannah follender
staff
Sara Gibbs - Executive Director (She/Her/Hers)
Sara moved to Utah in 1996 for the deep powder snow. Prior to that she was born and raised in upstate New York. A graduate of State University of New York at Plattsburgh, with a bachelor's degree in Studio Arts. She became involved with ACE by attending events and then was asked to join the Board of Directors. In 2004 she accepted a job with ACE as the Programming and Marketing Director. In July of 2006, she was appointed the job as Executive Director.
Megan Oliver - Events Director (She/Her/Hers)
Megan grew up in a small town in Wisconsin and graduated from Luther College, a liberal arts college in Iowa, with a degree in French and Elementary Education. During those formative years, she spent time on farms in Togo and France and teaching in a rural village in Alaska. Her wanderlust and sense of adventure grew, and she moved to Utah in 2019 for love, a teaching job, and the mountains. While not an avid skier, she is a fervent backpacker and has long distanced hiked the Tahoe Rim Trail and Oregon Coast Trail. She appreciates the easy access to the Wasatch mountains for flower, hiking, birding opportunities, and tranquil moments in nature.
After 3 years of teaching 5th grade, she has taken the leap to pursue her silversmithing business, Crooked Trails Silver. In the Events Director role, she hopes to use her connections within the Utah art community and her education background to bring people together. She believes that everyone is an artist and how a supportive community is an essential component to a happy life. Megan is looking forward to using her artist perspective and becoming more involved in the Alta community.