Mark Gasta

Mark Gasta is a Teaching Professor and the Associate Director of the Outdoor Recreation Economy (ORE) program at the University of Colorado Boulder. Mark is passionate about developing purpose-driven leaders with the capacity to build sustainable organizations that leverage outdoor recreation and tourism as a powerful economic development tool and an avenue to help alleviate poverty and protect and preserve wild places and threatened cultures. Mark is also the Founder of Adventures in Leading, a leadership-team-culture development group that works to connect leaders and teams with their purpose and potential.

Prior to the launch of the ORE program, Mark was a faculty member and Director of the Business Leadership Certificate in the Leeds School of Business. Mark began his academic career as an Associate Professor in the Master of Tourism Management (MTM) Program and Program Director of the Adventure Tourism graduate certificate, Colorado State University. 

Prior to joining academia, Mark was Executive Vice President, Chief People Officer, and Chief Sustainability Officer for Vail Resorts Management Company, the premier mountain resort company in the world and a leader in luxury, destination-based travel at iconic locations. In this position, Mark was responsible for planning and executing on organization-wide people and sustainability strategies designed to increase organization effectiveness and enhance organizational performance and health.

Before Vail Resorts, Mark served as the Corporate Vice President of Organizational Development for Comcast Communications’ 90,000 employees. He also served as the Vice President of Human Resources for Comcast’s West Division.  Additionally, Mark has held various human resources management positions with AT&T Broadband, Lexis-Nexis and Target Corporation. He also served in the United States Army as a commissioned officer and aviator.

Mark is an active member of several professional associations including the Adventure Travel Trade Association and the Society of Outdoor Recreation Professionals. He also serves/has served on many non-profit boards including the Colorado Outward Bound School, Leave No Trace and the Urban League – just to name a few.

Mark received his Bachelors of Science degree in Environmental and Systematic Biology from California Polytechnic State University, a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Denver, and his Doctorate of Education (Ed.D.) in Organizational Change from Pepperdine University.