Boyne Resorts Taps Former Disney Executive as New President of Operations
Boyne Resorts has named Dan Cockerell as President of Operations, a newly created role set to take effect August 1st, 2026. Cockerell will report directly to President and CEO Stephen Kircher.
Cockerell arrives with nearly three decades of leadership experience in large-scale hospitality. He spent 26 years at The Walt Disney Company, capping his tenure as Vice President of Magic Kingdom, where he oversaw 12,000 employees at one of the most operationally demanding hospitality properties in the world. He later served as CEO of Torrens University in Sydney, Australia, and co-founded Cockerell Consulting alongside his wife Valerie. He is also the author of How’s the Culture in Your Kingdom, a leadership book focused on service-driven organizations.
Kircher framed the hire as a response to both organizational growth and his own expanding commitments. Boyne Resorts now operates thirteen resort and attraction properties stretching from Vancouver to Maine, with 11,000 team members at peak winter staffing, making it the largest family-owned, independent mountain resort company in North America.
“Adding a President of Operations is the right organizational move at this moment in time. With my recent assumption of the NSAA Chairmanship and our continuing and potential growth across the network, the timing is right to bring on a leader of this depth in experience, who can serve as a stronger central partner to our senior team and strengthen succession planning and leadership development across the company. Dan brings the experience, the philosophy and the discipline this role requires, and he has known Boyne for years through industry collaboration and prior work with our teams.” – Stephen Kircher, President and CEO of Boyne Resorts.
The new role is designed to strengthen central operational leadership while preserving the resort-level autonomy that Boyne has maintained since Everett Kircher founded the company in 1948. The appointment comes as Boyne wraps up what the company describes as another record winter season.
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