Mark Gasta was most recently a faculty member and director of the Business Leadership Certificate in the Leeds School of Business at the University of Colorado Boulder. As the faculty lead for both the Introduction to the Outdoor Recreation Economy and the Leading a Sustainable Business in the Outdoor Recreation Economy certificates, Mark will teach and mentor values-driven leaders to conduct business with ethical, environmental, social and economic initiatives.

Mark is passionate about developing leaders with the capacity to build sustainable organizations that create profit for shareholders while protecting the environment and improving the lives of those with whom they interact. 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. Previously, Mark served as an associate professor in the Master of Tourism Management (MTM) Program and program director of the Adventure Tourism graduate certificate, Colorado State University. Mark also served as an officer and pilot in the US Army.

Prior to joining academia, Mark was the 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 in senior leadership roles with Comcast Communications as well as various human resources management positions with AT&T Broadband, Lexis-Nexis and Target Corporation.

Mark received an Ed.D. in Organizational Change from Pepperdine University, an M.B.A from the University of Denver, and a B.S. in Environmental and Systematic Biology from California Polytechnic State University.