Apartment Look

 Her father, who owned a travel agency, was murdered in 1989, when Nina was 17. “My dad died at 46. My age exactly. And he left behind five children,” Vaca says. “It was a tragic time for my family. That’s what makes our success story so beautiful. “Yes, like a good entrepreneur, I found a need in the marketplace and a way to fill it. Yes, the barriers to entry were minimal at the time because there was so much demand for IT. Yes, all those things are true. “But the real purpose behind me starting Pinnacle was to create a better life and a better circumstance for my family.” Her older sister, Jessica Narvaez, joined Pinnacle’s management team early on, followed by her younger brother, Freddy Vaca, then her husband, Jim Humrichouse, and cousin, Ximena Alvarez. Today, Vaca numbers her “family” in the thousands, including 5,000 employees and consultants and people in the communities here and abroad that she helps. “The larger and more successful we are at Pinnacle, the more we’re able to...

Since it was installed in 2010, the "orange bubble" chairlift at The Canyons in Utah has become the resort's most iconic feature. The high-speed quad, which whisks skiers 8,700 feet to the summit of Lookout Peak in just nine minutes, was the first in North America to have heated seats and a plastic shield — the bubble — to protect riders from frigid air and snow along the way. It's just like a gondola, but you don't have to take off your skis. Any skier would love it. But Robert Katz is not any skier. He's the CEO of Vail Resorts, the $1. 4 billion resort powerhouse that owns The Canyons. Vail bought the resort in 2013, and then — through a mix of luck, lawyers, and shrewd business — snatched up neighboring Park City Mountain Resort in 2014, merging the two into a single mega-resort now known as Park City. Vail now owns 14 resorts, which have a total of 305 lifts, and Katz thinks long and hard about all the little things that go into making the properties s...