OUR TEAM
Our team is a tight-knit group of experts, united by their passion for outdoor adventure. We are made up of a group of talented business analysts, designers, industry strategists, and experts. Select Contracts also has an excellent network of skilled external resources that can be brought to bear on projects as required.
Select Contracts’ head office is in Whistler, BC, a place of incredible recreational creativity. Our company also maintains a base with team members in the UK, USA, New Zealand, and Australia to be able to handle projects around the globe with ease.
CHRIS SUTTON
CEO
Darron Charity
Regional Director
(AUS and NZ)
ROB MCskimming
Mountain Resort
Development Advisor
CHUCK BAUMBERG
Business Development
Director
AMANDA TWIDALE
Creative Director
RHIANNON VINE
Development Manager
Steph Picard
Finance Manager
Natasha Regard
Marketing Consultant
Andrew Buckley
Senior Mountain
Resort Associate
Adrian Paul
Research and Analytics
Advisor
Ben Fok
Mountain Resort
Associate
Lisa Beaumont
Business Affairs
Consultant
Alex Hay
Design Associate
Ange Charity
Business Support
Manager
CHRIS SUTTON
CEO
Chris’ background in leisure operations stands him in good stead as he drives the company forward in today’s exciting and competitive market.
He is responsible for overseeing the implementation of the company’s global development strategy and ensuring that key markets and geographical areas are fully realized. Chris also believes in a hands-on approach to client relationships and actively manages the company’s key clients personally. He is involved in every major project and ensures that every aspect of the project is controlled in relation to cost, delivery, and client expectations.
Chris is our resident expert on surf parks, having built and operated the world’s first surf park and has been consulting for many projects since then. Chris is also the brains behind the financial modelling of every project, using his 25+ years of experience to create very intricate business models that investors look for when investing in this active entertainment sector.
Chris has two beautiful daughters whom he spends all his time with when not working. They quite often find themselves hiking, bike riding, and horse riding in the backcountry of British Columbia during the summer months and skiing in the winters. Chris is also a rally driver and competes in all stage rally events in the Pacific Northwest.
DARRON CHARITY
REGIONAL DIRECTOR – NZ & AUS
Darron is a Director and Partner of the New Zealand branch of Select Contracts. He primarily oversees projects in New Zealand and Australia, managing all accounts in this part of the world on a day-to-day basis. He also provides Select Contracts with guidance and oversight for all international construction projects.
Darron holds a Post Graduate Diploma in Building Management (GDipBM), is a Project Management Professional (PMP, PMINZ) and a trade certified carpenter giving him the qualifications needed to do this demanding role in Select Contracts.
Darron has exceptional knowledge of development, programme and portfolio management. He is a voice of experience, with over 25 years of project management and commercial construction expertise. He has a proven track record across a wide spectrum of industries including leisure, sport, marine, education, commercial construction, sport facilities and residential housing. Darron thinks strategically and operates practically to seek the best possible outcomes for his clients, and managing the diverse objectives of multiple groups of stakeholders.
Darron’s successes are founded on forging strong trusting relationships with his clients. He is known and respected in the New Zealand market having established and led project management consultancies across the country. He has a clear understanding and valuable insight into the many challenges of new developments and points to the recent success as the Programme Director for the Christchurch Adventure Park, a world class leisure attraction in the South Island of New Zealand, as an exemplar in delivering an outstanding result against insurmountable odds. Away from the office, Darron enjoys travelling, road cycling, mountain biking, hunting and tramping.
ROB MCSKIMMING
MOUNTAIN RESORT DEVELOPMENT ADVISOR
After more than four decades working in the ski resort industry, Rob joined the Select Contracts team as a consultant providing expertise in mountain resort development and operations. Rob advises on strategic initiatives designed to grow and develop business opportunities primarily in the mountain resort sector. He spent most of his career working in various senior capacities with Whistler Blackcomb as it grew to become one the world’s most successful and popular mountain resort destinations during both summer and winter operations. As Vice President of Business Development, Rob’s role encompassed a broad range of direct responsibilities including Snow School, Heli Skiing, Signature Events, Mountain Biking, Hiking and Sightseeing Operations. In addition, Rob was the lead on many capital projects designed to expand and diversify Whistler Blackcomb’s non-skiing business opportunities.
Rob’s vision, creativity and passion for mountain recreation of all kinds, combined with a commitment to achieving financial success, have led to many accomplishments over the years. Rob is well known as the driving force behind the development of the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, by far, the most visited lift- accessed mountain bike park in the world. Rob was one of the founders of the Crankworx Mountain Biking Festival and World Tour, which are now a force on the global mountain biking stage. Rob was also successful in building many “less adventurous” experiential opportunities surrounding Whistler Blackcomb’s sightseeing, hiking and summer activity businesses. During the winter months, Rob was highly involved in Whistler Blackcomb’s operation and directly oversaw the growth of the WB Snow School, which became one of the largest snow schools in the world.
Rob believes strongly in the opportunity for mountain resorts to grow by expanding and diversifying their experiential opportunities and is looking forward to the prospect of working with other organizations to do so.
In his semi-retirement, spare time Rob can be found in the mountains enjoying many of the recreational opportunities he helped to create.
CHUCK BAUMBERG
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR
Chuck was born in Vancouver, but having a British father who was a development manager moved him around as a child to Australia, England, and Hong Kong, eventually bringing him back to Canada as a young teen. After completing a major in mathematics at the University of Victoria, Chuck moved to England to pursue a professional rugby career which eventually landed him in London playing in the English Championship.
Alongside playing rugby, Chuck began working for Merrill Lynch on the fixed-income trading desk. During his time there he sold bonds and structured credit products to large institutional investors, including hedge funds, pension funds, and insurance companies. A large component of the role involved working with corporate management teams to actively market new debt instruments and raise funds for various corporate purposes.
Chuck moved back home to BC in 2016 to develop an inland surf park in the lower mainland (an ongoing endeavour) while also continuing his career in finance, running business development for a Canadian asset management company. Chuck now resides in Squamish with his wife and young son and is an avid mountain biker, climber, and skier and works full-time for Select Contracts as a Business Development Director overseeing global sales, business planning, market & analytics, and financial consulting on the company’s global leisure projects.
AMANDA TWIDALE
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
Amanda is from the UK and has worked for Select Contracts for more than 25 years, starting her career as an Illustrator in 1997, in the years that followed she gained experience in many different sectors of leisure development from designing family entertainment venues to developing outdoor adventure projects.
She has worked on several major projects in the Middle East, New Zealand, USA and Canada. Her main focus is conceptualizing new projects visually and converting those ideas into 3D renderings and artistic plans. When projects develop beyond the concept phase she works closely with our architects, designers, and the project team to ensure high-end design is delivered to our clients.
Amanda graduated from the Surrey Institute of Art and Design where she specialized in Illustration. After Art School she had a hunger for travel and spent 5 years living in Sweden and Spain, she taught Art and English and worked as a freelance illustrator before settling into a career with Select. She now lives on the west coast of Wales with her husband, has 2 grown-up children, and in her spare time can be found exploring the Pembrokeshire coastline, loitering around art galleries, and practicing yoga.
RHIANNON VINE
DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Rhiannon studied in Australia at The University of Adelaide. After graduating in 2014 with a Master’s degree in Architecture she pursued a career in the residential construction industry, designing custom houses for a development company. Rhiannon also has a background in outdoor education, with experience as a rock climbing and hiking guide in Switzerland and high ropes course instructor in Australia.
For the past 12 years, Rhiannon has been involved with Scouts Australia and this combined with her love of hiking and climbing has created a passion for encouraging youth evolvement in active, challenge- based activities.
Rhiannon moved to Whistler in 2018 to join the Select Contracts team as a Design Technician, working with the design team to produce plans for recreation projects around the world. She has worked her way up through the business to Technical Design Manager and now to Development Manager overseeing the development and technical aspects of every project.
NATASHA REGARD
MARKETING CONSULTANT
Born in South Africa, lived in Australia, but now residing in Louisiana, USA, Natasha has over 10 years of experience in graphic design and video production with over 8 years in web development & marketing. She specializes in converting digital traffic into profitable, returning customers.
She graduated from LSU Shreveport in Digital Arts and started working for a local start-up Marketing Agency, Blue Arx, before co-founding her first company, VUE Marketing. She moved away from VUE to co-found an online social media platform, Mirima Entertainment, and start her own marketing company, Natasha Regard – Digital Advertising Secrets. During this time, she worked as creative director for ASTERI Networks a Data Analytic Entertainment and Esports company.
Natasha now runs marketing and web projects for her clients all over the world while managing her own online shopping brands. When she’s not working you will find her on the water fishing, at Jiu-Jitsu, in the weight room, or out shopping carrying her Teacup Yorkie in her purse.
ANDREW BUCKLEY
SENIOR MOUNTAIN RESORT ASSOCIATE
Andy, originally from the U.K. discovered a passion for the outdoors, in particular skiing from an early age which took him to the Alps, the Colorado Rockies and ultimately the Sierra Nevada’s. Andy has worked in the resort recreation business for the past 35 years and has been instrumental in finding solutions to many growth, operational and leadership issues. Andy has joined Select Contracts from Northstar, California where he was the Sr. Director-Skier Services responsible for Ski School, Competitive Teams & Nordic, Product Sales & Scanning, Winter & Summer Events, Bike Park & VRI Bike Park Best Practices and Golf Operations. Previous roles include Director of Business Development at Northstar, California, Director of Recreation at Vail, Colorado and Resort Rep & Guide at Courchevel, France.
Andy had many accomplishments while at Northstar, notably strategizing leadership development, pricing, product offering, talent acquisition and training and saw revenue grow 200% in Ski School and 700% in Teams over 10 years resulting in flow-through of 52% in Ski School and 25% in Teams. Among other key winter projects, he also designed the ‘Optimized Trainer Model’ for ski school training which grew the culture of learning in the school, which in turn improved the guest experience.
Andy spearheaded Northstar’s Bike Park growth strategy by building the terrain/events/teaching strategy tied to a detailed business plan that included the development of a dedicated summer park team applying disciplined use of capital., Resulting in volume growing 40% and flow-through 25% from flat pre plan, Andy was also responsible for oversight of the 130,000 sq ft Northstar Village Build Out and Transformation Plan.
Andy believes that Resorts and communities may capitalize on the awe of the mountain experience by offering an exceptional array of four season recreation offerings, which allow true utility of the built and natural asset infrastructure.
In his spare time you can find him pedaling a bike on classic Sierra Nevada single-track or sliding skis over the same terrain in winter time.
ADRIAN PAUL
RESEARCH AND ANALYTICS ADVISOR
Adrian graduated with distinction from the BC Institute of Technology (BCIT) in 2014 with diplomas in Marketing Management (Entrepreneurship specialization) and Finance (Financial Planning specialization). During his studies, Adrian was involved with a number of projects working with local entrepreneurs to develop their businesses, providing valuable research insights, and planning for financing new projects and expanding operations.
Throughout his schooling and career, Adrian has had a keen interest in developing new businesses and markets, having started his own small business while attending BCIT and once graduated, he helped set up a solar energy division within a larger company. While developing the solar division, Adrian and the small team were able to build the business to over $4 million in revenue within the first two years of operation, more than tripling the installed capacity of rooftop solar in the local market.
Adrian started with Select Contracts in 2016 part-time, entering into a full-time role in 2018, and worked his way up to COO and ran the day-to-day operations of all projects. As Adrian’s career evolves, he has gone back to his entrepreneurial roots and is currently running a passive greenhouse company on Vancouver Island so has transitioned to the role of Research and Analytics Advisor in a part-time capacity at Select Contracts. He will continue to use his considerable expertise to offer strategic guidance and research-driven insights on Select Contracts projects.
Outside of the office, Adrian is married with a son and whenever he can he is riding his mountain bike on all the amazing trails around Vancouver Island.
BEN FOK
MOUNTAIN RESORT ASSOCIATE
Originally from Wales (U.K) Ben was lured out to the U.S by the mountains and the skiing. He began his resort industry career as a ski instructor and trainer, chasing winters between the northern and southern hemispheres. He holds a PSIA Alpine Full Certification and served on the Northwest Technical Team.
Ben transitioned into resort leadership in 2008 at Sierra-at-Tahoe and then Stevens Pass and Vail Resorts. As a Director of Resort Services Ben grew into an influential senior leadership figure at the resort and industry level. His broad scope has included responsibility for ski and snowboard school, guest services, rental and retail, capital projects, leadership training, and elements of both winter and summer mountain operations. He has collaborated at a strategic level with some of the thought-leaders in the ski industry including PSIA, SNOW Partners, and the National Ski Areas Association, serving on the NSSA Growth Committee.
In 2021 Ben took a break from operations to complete a certification in Full Stack Web Development to broaden his technical skillset. This combined with his resort operational expertise and experience as a leader, facilitator, and educator has propelled him into the consulting space with Select Contracts as someone uniquely able to offer value at all stages of a project, from ideation to execution.
Through Select Contracts, he is working with some of the largest ski resort companies in North America on 4-season resort planning and project management.
In his spare time, you will find Ben playing soccer or tinkering with his acoustic guitar, his wooden house, or some coding project.
ALEX HAY
DESIGN ASSOCIATE
After graduating in the UK from Bournemouth University in 2004, Alex pursued a career in Golf Course Design. He spent 10 years working for European Golf Design who have been involved in many high- profile projects all over the world. Some of these projects included venues that have staged the Ryder Cup which would see 50,000 spectators attend a day’s golf.
Alex moved to Whistler with his young family in 2017 and is delighted to be working for Select Contracts where he can continue to masterplan leisure resorts and work closely with the Design Team producing CAD plans for proposals, planning, costing and construction.
Outside of work Alex enjoys getting outdoors as much as possible and snowboards, runs and plays golf whenever he can!
ANGE CHARITY
BUSINESS SUPPORT MANAGER
Ange is the glue in our Christchurch, NZ team responsible for all aspects of managing the day-to-day operations and business administration. Ange adds extensive expertise in supporting business executives, business units, office administration and customer service, having worked in both private and public sector organisations in a variety of roles.
Previous to joining Select Contracts, Ange was responsible for a team who managed and implemented all aspects of business administration, health & safety, personal development and supplier debt recovery for a large public sector organisation.
She is highly motivated and organised and being a people person, enjoys building relationships with colleagues and clients alike.
Her passion is being active, whether it be cycling, trail running, mountain biking or yoga. Ange loves spending time with good friends, travelling and having fun.