“Big White Ski Resort is a magical place,” says chartered professional accountant Jeanie McLean, CPA, CA. “When you’re at the resort, it feels like Christmas holidays all season long. And the snow is truly amazing! Okanagan champagne powder is dry and fluffy – you don’t have to be a skier or a snowboarder to appreciate it.”
Jeanie, who joined Big White in 2021 as manager of finance and has served as CFO since 2022, oversees operational and capital finances and drives cross-team integration between business lines at the resort. We recently chatted about how she has helped Big White successfully navigate hurdles like climate change impacts and COVID, and how her willingness to meet challenges head on has shaped her career.
Taking on every challenge with confidence
“As an accounting undergrad at EY in Vancouver, I was following a pretty standard path,” Jeanie says about the start of her career. “But I planted a seed early with my mentors by expressing my interest in pursuing a career in tax. At first it was my desire to differentiate myself.” Later, she realized that specialization allowed her to transform into a truly valuable advisor to her clients. “My career journey didn’t always have a clear path,” she notes, “but I learned to take every challenge with confidence even if I was outside my comfort zone and sought out specific opportunities.”
One such opportunity was a move from the Lower Mainland to the Interior, which involved specializing in a completely new area of work and connected her to her future employer. “In 2014 I moved to Kelowna, where my husband is from,” Jeanie says. “I was extremely fortunate to continue my tax career at BDO in Kelowna, where I had to quickly learn to become an expert in an entirely different market – as an advisor to owner-managers and privately held enterprises. One of my core clients was Big White.”
Becoming part of an iconic business
When she was pregnant with her second child, the time seemed right to make another change – for her young family, and to take on the challenge of helping to manage an iconic Okanagan business. “I asked for a meeting with my then client (the CFO), who had been working for Big White and its owners for over 25 years,” says Jeanie. “I made the case to join the company and learn to become her successor when she retired.” While Jeanie had no experience in the ski resort industry or running a large private enterprise, the CFO gave her a chance based on, as Jeanie says, her “willingness to jump right in and learn the business from the ground up.”
Navigating curveballs is second nature
Part of the job has involved navigating tough challenges, including severe tourism restrictions during the pandemic, issues caused by climate change, and BC’s ongoing housing crunch. However, after decades of responding to challenges brought on by the seasonal nature of their business, the Big White team has a finely-honed ability to navigating change.
“Operating a seasonal business that’s highly dependent on mother nature and the economy keeps us on our toes,” says Jeanie. “Our teams start planning for a season almost a whole year in advance.” For her, this involves working with departments to set their yearly budgets, identifying realistic targets, and making updates as circumstances change. “I would describe my role in all of this as the connector,” she says. “Beyond my financial responsibilities, I find myself regularly checking in with all department heads to ensure that the many business lines all work together in a cohesive manner.”
“COVID-19 threw a massive curveball to many businesses,” she continues, “and Big White was no exception.” For example, to overcome the challenge of hiring seasonal staff during travel and visa restrictions (most of Big White’s seasonal staff come from abroad), the team “reviewed all of our business lines and eliminated any non-essential services that could not be staffed during that time. Once the pandemic was over, I was very strategic in reintroducing some of these services. If it did not meet our strategic goals we did not bring it back. We learned to do more with less,” she notes. “I also felt that investing in our staff and incentivizing the young local workforce was key to our resiliency. In 2022, we reset the baseline seasonal wage to a new internal minimum which was 18% higher than the provincial minimum wage at the time. Our team is exceptional at adapting to changes and during the pandemic, we were able to bring forth many improvements to the resort that will have a lasting impact,” she notes.
Building staff housing for long-term stability
One such improvement that will have an enduring effect is a recently completed $13 million staff housing project. “This adds 128 new beds for seasonal staff at the resort,” says Jeanie. “As a privately-owned family business, this is a huge financial and strategic commitment to invest in the wellbeing of our staff.”
Businesses at the resort have been struggling to adequately house their seasonal employees for the last few years because post-pandemic, “many private condos previously available for staff housing were either sold or converted to short-term rental at a rate that we could not keep up with,” she adds. “The staff housing we’ve built allows us to be fully staffed for our busiest times, offer new services and activities in the future, and ensures that our staff have access to safe, comfortable, and affordable housing.”
Incorporating climate change factors into business strategy
Along with staff housing, another challenge that Jeanie is helping Big White to address is climate change. When asked how the resort is incorporating climate risks into overall business strategy, she says, “We have seen some tough summers recently with the forest fires affecting our region.” To help address this, Big White works closely with tourism associations in the Okanagan to set the strategic direction as a network of tourism providers. “We have had to cancel major events on short notice, but also were able to pivot and offer up emergency accommodation to forest fire evacuees,” Jeanie recalls. At times, she says, Big White Mountain sat above the thick forest fire smoke and became a place for locals from Kelowna to escape the smoke. “We take these opportunities to reach out to our community to show our support.”
On the flip side of forest fires, winter snow levels can now be unpredictable. “Ski resorts are adapting by offering year-round operation and diversifying their product offerings,” says Jeanie. “Big White is fortunate to receive an abundance of natural snow, and the resort also invests more resources into strategic summer grooming which can allow ski runs to open safely with less snow.” To further address climate change factors in business strategy, Jeanie also looks for opportunities to improve or introduce non-snow activities; as one example, the resort recently opened a new spa. “As we navigate changes to our business, we continue to look for ways to overcome climate change challenges in a sustainable way,” she continues.
Taking a moment to reflect on the opportunities and challenges to date, and those that are sure to lie ahead, Jeanie notes, “It’s important to embrace challenges and learn to navigate unknowns in a systematic manner, make decisions, then move forward.” She adds, “All of the challenges are worth it when we’re rewarded with an extraordinary winter season like we’ve had this year, with early snow and sunshine for days. We get to see guests from all over the world vacationing at Big White and making memories with their families – that’s the best part of my job.”
All photos courtesy of Andrew Jay.
Leah Giesbrecht is a communications specialist at CPABC.
