The Making of a Community The Vail Way - Softcover

John Horan Kates has more than forty years of leadership experience in business and community organizations. He received an undergraduate degree in business from Wayne State University in Detroit in 1967 and subsequently became a Distinguished Naval Graduate of the U.S. Navy's Officer Candidate School. Following this training, he served aboard the USS Jennings County in Vietnam. After departing the Navy in 1972, he served as controller for the Kirkwood Resort in the California High Sierra. Several years later he came to Vail and served as vice president of marketing for Vail Resorts, founded the Vail Valley Foundation, helped build the Vilar Center for the Arts, and then helped start Vail Christian High School. In 1994, John was named Vail Valley Citizen of the Year. In 1997, he helped launch the Vail Leadership Institute where he served as president until 2013 and subsequently served as board chair. In 1998, he received a Master Coaching Certificate from the Hudson Institute of Santa Barbara. He is the author The Leader's Journal and several leadership essays and has published two leadership guidebooks. He has lived in the Vail Valley with his wife Pam since 1974. They have two children: a daughter, Brooke, who is a real estate broker in Cordillera, Colorado, and a son, Conor, who is a software engineer living in San Francisco.