There’s a new superhero in town and his name is HospitaBill Malone.
Park City Economic Development Director Chris Eggleton said being hospitable, at its core, is a verb. It’s embodied in a person’s actions — like a superhero — how a person might do more than just open the door, but make sure someone feels like they belong once they’re inside.
That spirit of hospitality, Eggleton said, is exactly what defines Bill Malone.
Malone personified generosity and cordiality long before he helped create the Myles Rademan Spirit of Hospitality Award in 2003 as the then-president and CEO of the Park City Chamber/Bureau. But it all came full circle when the organization he once led for 21 years bestowed the honor upon him during its annual meeting on Thursday at Pendry Park City.
The award is given to residents who epitomize the vision of Park City and aspire to make the community a better, more inclusive place. It’s named after Rademan, who served as a city planning director in the late ’80s and founded the Leadership Park City program. Recent recipients include Sally Elliott, Tina Lewis and Teri Whitney.
Rademan reflected on the challenges the county and state are facing, and emphasized the need for Park City to embrace acceptance, serenity and courage in the “hectic and disorienting years ahead” with civility and kindness as the 2034 Winter Games loom ahead.
“We simply cannot allow anger and frustration to be our new muses. Fretting and complaining about what we’re losing, rather than concentrating on what we might gain, is not either a strategy for success or a recipe for personal happiness,” Rademan said.
The sentiment is also enshrined in the Chamber/Bureau’s new tagline: Mountainkind. It’s something close to Malone’s heart.
“It’s nice to be important, and it’s more important to be nice,” he said.
Malone grew up in Delaware and earned an undergraduate degree in political science at a small college in Maryland. He then attended graduate school at Pace University in New York, obtaining a degree in public administration.
At the time, Malone recalled that he wasn’t really sure what he wanted to do. His first job out of college was as a staffer at the Central Delaware Chamber of Commerce, which had a strong emphasis on political science because Malone worked on the legislative affairs side.
Malone, known for his robust mustache at the time, eventually moved up the East Coast with his wife, Linda. He became the executive director of the chamber of commerce in Peekskill, New York, one of the youngest in the state. A New York Times reporter briefly interviewed Malone at the chamber in 1979 for an article about the forgotten history of President-elect Abraham Lincoln’s visit to town to give a brief address.
Malone eventually accepted a position leading the Ocean County Chamber of Commerce in the 1980s. He and Linda moved their family to Toms River, New Jersey, to raise two children, Megan and Kevin.
The job was Malone’s first taste of seasonal hospitality with the community located on the Jersey Shore. It showed him how business trends can change and exposed Malone to the measurability of economics. He said it was easy to see what worked and what didn’t.
But while Malone was indoctrinated in the summer business, his family often traveled out west for winter vacations. They always talked about moving away from the East Coast, but it wasn’t until an opportunity arose for Malone to run the chamber resort association in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, in 1989 that they jumped at the chance and never looked back.
In Steamboat Springs, Malone was to build a summer economy in a place known for its skiing, and he created a series of rodeos, marathons and balloon festival events that drew crowds from Denver’s Front Range.
Malone was also involved in major event planning and bidding, such as competing to host the National Brotherhood of Skiers convention in the mid-1990s. The experience exposed him to managing large-scale seasonal events and helped him understand the dynamics of resort communities, which was a pivotal step in his hospitality career. It was also there that Malone met Joan Calder, who later became his predecessor in Park City.
Malone spent seven years in Colorado before he became the executive director of the Jackson Hole Chamber of Commerce. There, he was also tasked with helping the community build a 12-month economy.
Malone held the position for three years until Calder announced she was stepping down, and Malone once again jumped. He took over the Park City Chamber/Bureau in July 1999.
“Park City was a dream job,” Malone said. “We always knew that this was a great town and a great place to be.”
The 2002 Winter Olympics had already been announced, and while there was plenty of work done, there was still plenty to do. Malone found ways to leave his own fingerprint on the event, such as helping businesses prepare for the Games by educating them on everything from pin trading to planning the logistics of flower deliveries on Valentine’s Day.
“I had been involved with Ski World Cups in other areas, so I had some knowledge and familiarity with what was going to happen inside the fence, but the key ingredient for us is what happens outside the fence as a community,” Malone said.
That included finishing up the details on the Olympic Welcome Plaza on the corner of Kearns Boulevard and Park Avenue, organizing celebratory media relations for the Games and more. The Chamber/Bureau was also thinking about how to use the Winter Olympics as a catalyst to springboard new types of business and using the Games as a device to court other events.
Malone remembered there was a little bit of shock from an economic standpoint after the Games. He remembered driving home with his wife after the closing ceremonies after having driven by the stadium at the bottom of the ski jumps — lit up and decorated with banners — for two weeks earlier. Then the power was off, and the Games were over.
But Park City had been thrust into the international spotlight and gained credibility with a well-run Olympics.
Malone said after a few days of thought gathering, there was a strong sense of confidence. That poured over to other established events like World Cups and the Sundance Film Festival, while also opening the door for new business opportunities in New York, Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, as well as the international market in Brazil, Great Britain and Australia.
“If you can do the Olympics in your town, you can do almost anything,” Malone said. “You went into the conversations in a much more enviable position.”
The 2002 Games helped build a sense of familiarity with the Park City area that started to move the needle forward in other areas, Malone said. He was recognized as helping to set the standard of excellence and played a key role in promoting the arts and cultural business of the community.
For example, the opening of the Montage Deer Valley, the St. Regis Deer Valley and the Waldorf Astoria also brought an entirely new customer base to the Park City area. Park City didn’t have much of a connection to the luxury lifestyle before, but now it’s synonymous with the community’s brand.
Eggleton and others who acknowledged Malone’s spirit of hospitality said he helped ensure the world felt welcomed in Park City. Malone also turned “momentum,” the theme of the event, into a community ethos.
Beyond the 2002 Winter Games, the Chamber/Bureau credited Malone with the following initiatives: securing a Recreation, Arts and Parks tax to fund cultural programs, supporting a 2016 transit tax for better mobility, launching the International Ski Pass and creating the Quick Start program where a boarding pass could become a same-day lift ticket — giving away over 24,000 tickets at its peak.
Malone said having longevity and strong professional and personal relationships also influenced his success at the Chamber/Bureau. He decided to retire after two decades in January 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic delayed his plans for a few months. Malone recalled that the Chamber/Bureau was in a state of paralysis during the first half of the year, but officials could “see the light” by the end of summer, and business bounced back.
The Chamber/Bureau ultimately hired Jennifer Wesselhoff as Malone’s successor, and she started in October of that year. Wesselhoff said Park City has “been forever enriched by Bill’s dedication and leadership,” noting he’s helped better numerous organizations with a steady hand and a clear vision.
Over the years, Malone said the definition of hospitality, and the industry overall, has broadened. Back then, it was a transactional kind of business heavily reliant on tax revenues. But now it’s evolved beyond hotels and restaurants.
“There’s more to this than just how many butts in beds you can get,” Malone said. “It’s a community, and we have a mindset here that we want to make sure that we don’t do things that would harm the integrity of the brand over time.”
For Malone, that means balancing hospitality and tourism with local residents’ needs. It’s important to consider what success means, who benefits from that success, and how that success will move the community.
He said the staff of the Chamber/Bureau is invested in Park City, and wants to do what’s best for it. Malone acknowledged the importance of building relationships throughout the community and making sure everyone is on the same page.
After all, for Malone, it’s always been more than work.
“For decades, Bill and hospitality have been inseparable, not just as the chamber and tourism CEO, but as a host, a neighbor and a friend and a leader,” Eggleton said while introducing his longtime mentor for the award presentation.
