Olympic facilities leader restacks the authority

There are some changes afoot at Olympic Regional Development Authority amid leadership and operational challenges

By James M. Odato
As Ashley Walden heads into her second full year leading the Olympic Regional Development Authority, she has a huge budget and tough decisions ahead.
Attempting to reorganize a branch of government set in its ways, she has been responding to a host of management and operational deficiencies that need to be shored up, according to data and interviews.
“These are things that take time in a large scale, relatively slow-moving organization,” said Tait Wardlaw, head of marketing and communications, one of Walden’s newest hires.
After nearly $700 million in improvements to facilities since 2017, and hundreds of million more in the pipeline, the authority aims to bring in big events, many of which lose money but help fill hotel beds and restaurant seats. With facilities in the best shape they’ve been in decades, Walden is looking internally to line up the authority for success.
That includes replacing some new administrators in her cabinet after a host of departures. She’s also created three vice president positions.
While managing a capital project program and studying facility operating methods, Walden has focused on event development. For most of 2024, she pushed to get New York in the running for the 2026 Winter Olympics sliding competitions should Italy be unable to build a bobsled/luge/skeleton track in time. Decisions on when to begin spending $96 million to upgrade Mount Van Hoevenberg ride on whether Lake Placid becomes the alternate site for sliding.
She also said she would prioritize environmental programs. She planned to unveil a sustainability policy in December 2024 that would include elements of climate stability, decarbonizing operations, natural resources protection and developing an organizational culture. However, she did not present the policy at the December board meeting. Walden now targets a sustainability and decarbonization program discussion for the board’s June meeting, said ORDA Communications Director Darcy Norfolk.

Feedback from employees

Some of what is informing Walden’s work is a recent survey of the 1,500 employees of ORDA, which runs the state’s downhill and Nordic centers and is one of the largest employers in the Adirondack Park. She particularly needs to boost her team’s communications skills and do more than discuss the importance of sustainability programs.
A third of the workforce answered the survey in February, six months into Walden’s career as chief executive officer of ORDA. The surveys have been conducted the past few years to gain personnel insights.
Many like the job she’s doing—37% strongly approve and 35% strongly disapprove and 28% were “passive” to the question—but a majority do not know or understand the direction of the authority. Most feel they are not recognized or valued or placed in a positive work environment.
The workforce gives ORDA flunking grades across the board for its commitment to sustainability programs—even after investments in an electric groomer and ice resurfacer, solar panels and high-efficiency snow guns..
“It’s a snapshot, a look back,” said Wardlaw, referring to the survey, provided after a public records request. “The process of addressing employee issues is a long process.”

Organizational changes

As part of her internal examination, Walden also faced a whistleblower’s complaint from a paid ski patroller that asserted grooming and snowmaking operations at Whiteface Mountain were endangering staff and guests. Though she said it wasn’t connected to the complaint, Walden summoned Bruce Transue, general manager at ORDA’s Belleyare Mountain Ski Center in the Catskills, to assess Whiteface.
She said he made recommendations involving improving trail signs and maps.

Related reading: Whiteface responds to concerns about trail conditions

In the fall, Walden named Transue to the new post of vice president for alpine centers. General managers of Gore and Whiteface mountains report to him.
He was one of three administrators promoted to become vice presidents, the other two being the former head of the Olympic ski jumping center and Mount Van Hoevenberg, now VP for events, and for the Olympic ice center in Lake Placid, now in charge of the non-alpine facilities.
“The restructuring aligns more people, more attention, more resources toward all the things included in the mission,” Wardlaw said, adding that the appointments jibe with responses in the employee survey, such as the need to improve knowledge of the company direction and to recognize employees.
Wardlaw said the authority is working on ways to measure success toward achieving the mission goals—economic and social benefit from the operations of year-round sports facilities with an emphasis on environmental stewardship, fiscal responsibility and delivery of programs for all people.
Walden, 43, a former Olympic luger, previously was the head of the group that created the World University Games in Lake Placid in 2023, which cost the state $57 million and met about 60% of ticket sales.

Work to be done

Betty Little, a board member who has made public appearances with Walden, said she is impressed with how organized Walden is. Art Lussi, another board member, said he is “very pleased” with Walden, who he described as energetic, confident, inquisitive about the value of proposed events and connected to the bobsled, luge and skeleton community. “She’s about creating her own team right now,” he said.
Chairman Joe Martens called her “unflappable” and acknowledged it takes time to put an administration together. “She’s got a ton of challenges,” he said, listing construction projects and noting the mixed responses of the employee survey. “She’s going to continue to refine her team,” he said. “People get used to one form of leadership. They have to get used to another.” He described the survey results constructive feedback.
The survey showed deep agreement that the sustainability commitment needs more energy. Just 27% were strongly satisfied with adherence to environmental goals.
General morale is poor, several ORDA employees have said in Explorer interviews (as long as their names were not used, to prevent retribution). Morale showed up on the survey this way: 39% strongly felt it was good and 30% strongly disagreed it was good.
“This data tells us there are areas we need to prioritize to address employee concerns,” Wardlaw said.