The Vail Valley Foundation today announced that Sarah Franke has taken the role of Senior Director of Marketing for the non-profit organization, which is in its 36th year of fulfilling its mission to enhance and sustain the quality of life of the Vail Valley by providing leadership in the arts, athletics, and education.
“We are very pleased to welcome Sarah to our team,” said Mike Imhof, President of the Vail Valley Foundation. “Sarah is a talented and respected professional in our community. In addition to her strong marketing, leadership, operations and business development expertise, Sarah is an excellent community collaborator and cares deeply about continuing to make Eagle County a wonderful place to live, visit and work.”
Franke was most recently company president of Group970, the restaurant company known for its Blue Moose Pizza restaurants in Vail and Beaver Creek. She had a successful tenure at Group970, beginning in 2004 when she took a job there as event coordinator and assistant to owner, Brian Nolan. Her talents soon led her to a variety of roles within the company, becoming the communications manager, then director of marketing and communications, and most recently, president.
“The Vail Valley Foundation is one of the most respected organizations in our community, and I’m looking forward to joining that very talented team,” Franke said. “It’s a dynamic organization with a wide range of activities, and I can’t wait to get involved in the great work being done by this organization.”
Franke’s official start date is June 1, only a few days before the Vail Valley Foundation’s GoPro Mountain Games get under way June 8-11 in Vail. The event is concurrent with the ramping up of summer education enrichment programming for YouthPower365, and followed by free concert series at Ford Amphitheater’s Hot Summer Nights and Eagle’s ShowDown Town, the Vail Dance Festival July 29-Aug. 12, and the Ford Amphitheater’s 30th Anniversary celebration concerts featuring Rodrigo y Gabriela and Third Eye Blind Aug. 18-19.
Franke will also work closely with the Vail Valley Foundation’s former vice president of marketing Duncan Horner, who is now executive director of the Vilar Performing Arts Center.
During her time with Group970, Franke reinforced the company’s strong commitment to supporting their local community by serving as a board member for both the Lionshead Merchant Association and Vail Chamber and Business Association and as a participant in a variety of committees for local organizations such as the Vail Valley Partnership, the Vail Valley Foundation and the Town of Vail.
“Sarah has shown a very strong commitment to community support, volunteerism and giving back. This makes Sarah a great fit for the Vail Valley Foundation as one of our core values is service to others,” Imhof said.
She joins a Vail Valley Foundation marketing team that seeks to be creative and engaging as they work in a quickly-evolving media and marketing landscape.
About the Vail Valley Foundation
The Vail Valley Foundation is a nonprofit with the mission to enhance and sustain the quality of life in the Vail Valley by providing leadership in arts, education and athletics. The organization is known for its work in education with YouthPower365, which provides programming to more than 4,200 local children with early childhood, K-12, and scholarship programs. The Vail Valley Foundation also provides the Vail Valley with several of its most treasured annual events, such as the GoPro Mountain Games, the EverBank America’s Winter Opening, the Audi Birds of Prey World Cup races, the Vail Dance Festival and Vail Free Concerts. The Vail Valley Foundation was the organizing body for the Alpine World Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek in 1989, 1999, and 2015. It also manages and operates the Vilar Performing Arts Center in Beaver Creek Village and the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater in Vail.
Visit www.vvf.org to learn more.