Raelene Davis: Architect of Growth and Inclusion in American Snow Sports

Over a nearly four-decade career, Raelene Davis has played a central role in expanding participation, shaping national growth strategies, and elevating Utah - and the United States - as a global winter sports destination. Through visionary marketing, program creation, and collaborative leadership, Davis has helped introduce countless people to snow sports while fundamentally changing how the industry approaches growth and inclusion.

Born on July 12, 1955, in Vernal, Utah, Davis built her professional legacy in Salt Lake City, where she joined Ski Utah in 1985 as marketing director. At that time, Utah recorded approximately 2.4 million skier visits annually. During her tenure, that number grew to more than seven million, reflecting not only increased visitation but the long-term impact of programs designed to convert first-time participants into lifelong skiers and riders.

One of Davis’s most enduring contributions has been the creation and expansion of youth access programs. Beginning in 1989, she designed Ski Utah’s 4th Grade Learn to Ski & Ride Program, which has provided more than 100,000 fourth graders the opportunity to ski or snowboard. Recognizing the importance of sustained engagement, she later expanded this model to include 5th and 6th-grade Passport programs, allowing children, regardless of background or residence, to ski multiple Utah resorts for free. These programs became national templates and were adopted or adapted by other states.

Davis also pioneered experiential marketing initiatives that brought skiing directly to new audiences. In the early 1990s, she partnered with Busch Beer to stage ski ramp demonstrations in nontraditional locations, including Central Park, Jones Beach, Huntington Beach, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Salt Lake City, introducing winter sports to urban and coastal audiences. During the same period, she created Ski the West Fest, hosting hundreds of travel agents annually and strengthening Utah’s position in domestic and international travel markets.

International promotion became another hallmark of Davis’s work. In 1992, she joined Ski USA and led sales missions to the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and South America. She later created the Ski Utah International Passport, enabling international visitors to ski multiple Utah resorts on a single pass. In 1995, Davis also secured SkiUtah.com, making Ski Utah one of the first destination marketing organizations to leverage the emerging World Wide Web.

Davis played a significant role in the buildup to the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, serving on the local marketing committee for the Olympic announcement and acting as an Olympic Torchbearer. Following the Games, she launched the Fat Flake Festival, transforming downtown Salt Lake City into a winter celebration by importing snow from Alta and staging ski and snowboard exhibitions to kick off the season.

Her influence expanded nationally between 2008 and 2019 through the creation of National Learn to Ski & Snowboard Month, co-developed with industry leaders and state associations. Under Davis’s leadership, more than 250 ski resorts participated annually, generating millions of dollars in media exposure and introducing over one million children and adults to snow sports. She also helped create the National Ski Areas Association’s Conversion Cup, recognizing ski areas that successfully convert first-time visitors into repeat participants.

A passionate advocate for inclusion, Davis has consistently worked to expand access to winter sports. In 2021, she launched Discover Winter, a program that introduces ethnically diverse and LGBTQ+ adults to skiing and snowboarding. Partnering with organizations such as Outdoor Afro, Equality Utah, the Salt Lake Black Chamber of Commerce, and educational institutions, Discover Winter now introduces hundreds of new participants to the sport each year.

Beyond program development, Davis has been a trusted industry leader. She has served on numerous boards and committees, including the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame Board of Directors since 2010, the NSAA Growth Committee, the Mountain Travel Symposium Advisory Board, and the Salt Lake City Air Service Development Committee. She also served as publisher of Ski Utah Magazine, the first destination ski publication to be poly-bagged with SKI and Outside magazines.

Davis’s contributions have been widely recognized. She was inducted into the Utah Tourism Hall of Fame in 2010, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the North American Snowsports Journalists Association in 2014, and was inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in 2024.

Raelene Davis’s legacy is defined not by a single program or campaign, but by decades of sustained, strategic impact. Through vision, collaboration, and unwavering commitment to growth and inclusion, she has helped shape the future of American snow sports, making her exceptionally deserving of induction into the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Hall of Fame.

Written by: Samantha DeBoer
Edited by: Tom Kelly