Deer Valley Resort's parent company has a new leader. Alterra Mountain Co. named Kelly Vohs as chief executive officer on Monday, Oct. 5, with a start date of Monday, Oct. 19.

Vohs replaces Jared Smith, who stepped down at the end of the 2025-26 ski season after four years running the company. An executive committee of the board, including former Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory and ownership representatives from KSL Capital Partners and Henry Crown & Company, managed day-to-day operations during the search, according to Alterra's leadership-transition statement.

The new CEO arrives with no ski-industry background.

He spent eight years as a Green Beret with the U.S. Army's 10th Special Forces Group at Fort Carson, Colorado, completing four combat deployments. He then built a career in hospitality and large-scale real estate.

Most recently, Vohs served as CEO of SafetyCulture, a global operations platform, the Park Record reported. Before that, he led LivCor, overseeing 500 of Blackstone's multifamily properties, according to his LinkedIn profile as cited by KPCW. He also held C-suite roles at Beam Living, which manages 15,000 New York City apartments, and ran operations for BR Guest Hospitality, a New York restaurant group with more than 20 restaurants.

His hotel experience includes stints as general manager of the Boca Raton Resort & Club and the Waldorf Astoria Chicago, and as opening general manager of the Conrad Chicago.

"My first job was in a restaurant kitchen, so I know this is a team sport," Vohs said in a statement. "A great day on the mountain is won or lost by those teams. My job is to back them up so they can do their best work and love doing it."

Eric Resnick, Alterra's board chairman and CEO of KSL Capital Partners, said the company found a leader who "has spent his career running businesses where thousands of employees show up every day to take care of people."

Vohs takes the helm as the ski industry faces headwinds. Alterra laid off an undisclosed number of corporate staff at its Denver headquarters in August, a move KSL Capital Partners attributed to slow industry growth in an internal memo, KPCW reported. Competitor Vail Resorts has also cut corporate positions and reported declining pass sales.

Alterra, which is privately held, owns 19 resorts and operates the Ikon Pass, providing access to more than 70 mountain destinations worldwide. The company has invested more than $2 billion over the past eight years, including more than $400 million at Deer Valley to support the resort's ongoing expansion.

Vohs and his family plan to relocate to Denver. He starts Monday, Oct. 19, just ahead of the 2026-27 ski season.