Last Monday, Park City Ski & Snowboard hired Ehlias Louis to take over as its executive director, the top position at the club.
He will be tasked with overseeing the club’s big-picture tasks like governance, nonprofit status compliance and budget on behalf of its board of directors.
Louis, a Park City resident, is an alumnus of the club. He also graduated from Park City High School in 1993. Louis skied for the U.S. Ski Team as an alpine skier for six seasons, competing on the World Cup circuit.
Wrapping up his skiing career ahead of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics, Louis became an aerospace engineer. He originally wanted to become an astronaut, but as a new father, he thought better of that dangerous career choice. Louis worked for NASA and Lockheed Martin, helping craft the Orion Spacecraft, which took four astronauts around the moon and back in April.
Tiring of the ever-changing nature of government work, Louis eventually got his MBA in France and returned to help run a real estate development company in Park City with his dad. He and his dad helped build hotels in Arizona and Idaho. Louis has since been running hospitality advisory and short-term rental businesses in Park City.
Accepting the executive director position at the club last Monday, Louis will need until August to completely transition away from his businesses. He has never seen himself as a “gold watch type of guy,” to stay in one role for too long a time. Louis is excited to maintain the good work many at the club have been doing for a long time and increase its presence in Park City ahead of the 2034 Games.
“The club is already a great club, it’s got 1,200 kids,” Louis said. “Hopefully, I can continue to build on the already solid foundation.”
Louis wants the club to continue to provide athletes with opportunities to appreciate the outdoors in Park City. He also wants the coaches to continue instilling life lessons in the athletes. Louis said he has carried forth the lessons of resilience, controlling only what you can and problem-solving in all of his career stops.
“I think there are a lot of strengths that I can bring to the club,” Louis said. “I’d like to build off the good work that’s already been done and create tighter partnerships with all the stakeholders, whether that’s the educational institutions or the mountains.”
Having combined various clubs and improved their financial standing, Louis would like to promote the club a bit more in Park City. He wants more people to take notice of the accomplishments of the athletes more regularly. The club is likely to continue producing athletes for the 2034 Games as they did in 2026.
“I see (the club) as an incubator, not only for producing athletes, but for producing fans and volunteers for the next Olympics,” Louis said. “There are so many great things that you can do in winter sport, including staying in the industry and being a really important piece of a community event like the 2034 Games.”
Louis understands that there will be a learning phase once he fully takes the reins of his position. Thankfully, he said, learning and taking on new challenges have always guided his next career steps.
“Whenever I find a curiosity and passion, I usually jump in,” Louis said. “If you were taking a quiz on what Ehlias Louis would do with all his experience, it doesn’t lead directly into sport executive directorship. … But the thing that really drew me to the opportunity was all times through life when people have asked me, ‘Where did you get these skills? What drives you or what shaped you?’ I always came back to the lessons I learned ski racing.”