Title: CEO

Company: Vail Resorts

Bio: As Chief Executive Officer of Vail Resorts, Rob Katz oversees some of the most popular and successful resorts in the world, counting Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, and Heavenly among the destinations that every skier knows. Whether it's the annual thrill of the Birds of Prey World Cup Races at Beaver Creek, the green re-imagining of Vail's Lionshead base, or the day-to-day operation of the sports most obvious empire, Katz stays remarkably on top of it all. Oh right, and Katz still finds time to serve as the director of the Vail Valley Foundation too.

Title: Chairman and CEO

Company: Jarden Group

Bio: In 2007, under the leader ship of Martin Franklin, a British investor and avid triatlete, the Jarden Corporation announced an agreement to acquire K2, Inc. Today Jarden oversees a myriad of snow sport brands including: K2 skis, snowboards, Volkl, Marker, Morrow, 5150, Liquid, Dana Designs, LINE skis, Earth shoes, Hawk shoes, Adio, Atlas snowshoes, Full Tilt ski boots, Marmot, and Planet Earth. So while the separate companies retain control of their respective product lines, it's fair to say Franklin's investment in K2 sports has quite the influence in our snowy world.  If you ask him, his investment makes him somewhat of a snow farmer.  He is steadfast in his stance that mother nature has a far greater impact on the (snow) business than any economic storm. "The weather is the driver of that business, not the economy. And I know people think that this is very discretionary, but let me tell you, if there is a lot of snow, it will trump whatever the economy is, and that's just how it has always been in the ski business," says Franklin.