Employee Spotlight - Hilary Chu

Breckenridge Grand Vacations has grown by leaps and bounds over the past few years, and Hilary Chu has been in the middle of it all.  As Human Resources Manager for the past 5½ years, Hilary has been involved in getting each new position and every new employee on board.  Hilary’s most valuable talent, however, has been demonstrated in the new programs, procedures and structures that she has built to accommodate BGV’s rapid growth.

Hilary has always found her primary job satisfaction in helping other people to develop their potential.  In the 20 years of her “first career” in banking, she moved rapidly from teller to branch manager, to operations manager, where she worked closely with bank employees and customers, and finally to commercial loan officer.  In every aspect of her work in banking, Hilary enjoyed coaching others and helping them to meet their goals.  It is not surprising, then, to learn that Hilary’s college degree was in social work.

Born in New York City and raised in that city’s suburbs, Hilary left the metropolis at age 18 to attend CSU, and never went back – to her mother’s dismay.  After she graduated, Hilary followed some college friends back to Breck.  It was a logical move: she had worked summers during college with the U.S. Forest Service, and the Forest Service asked her if she wanted to transfer to Dillon to work there after college.  Hilary agreed, though she might have had second thoughts if she had known that the work they had in mind was spraying trees to prevent beetle kill – not the most coveted work even among Forest Service staff.  Her intent was to work for a year, learn to ski, then move on – a familiar story.  Also familiar: this year will mark Hilary’s 30th year in Breckenridge.  Like many others, having come for the skiing, she stayed for the people.

After more than three years bouncing around in seasonal jobs, Hilary got her career opportunity at the bank, and there she discovered great role models at each step of her progression through the ranks.  Still, banking is an intense industry, and eventually Hilary began to feel burned out.

Timing is everything.  Just when she was feeling the need for a change, Hilary ran into Rob Millisor at a local event, and learned that Grand Timber had an opening for Payroll Manager.  She knew enough about the company to sense that this might be the new path she was looking for, and was hired in the summer of 2006, just in time for the explosion of growth that came with Grand Lodge on Peak 7.  Hilary had the foresight very early on to see that that kind of growth was going to require more extensive training and review structures, as well as better defined procedures, to sustain the ongoing expansion.  She got to work, and today the HR department consists of three full time employees, supporting the administration of payroll, benefits, personnel issues, safety, and numerous training programs.  In 2010, Hilary’s efforts were rewarded with “The Greatest Change Award” at the BGV Holiday Party.

And she’s not about to slow down.  Hilary recently successfully completed the certification as Professional in Human Resources, awarded through the Society for Human Resource Management.  A lifelong learner, Hilary says she learned a vast amount from the course of study, and found that she was immediately able to use the knowledge every day. 

Hilary feels that finding this job after the earlier 20-year career was a unique gift.  She is grateful to be part of an organization that attracts such great people, and whose leaders so clearly care about their employees, their product and their customers.  She readily admits that her commitment to her job sometimes tempts her to workaholism, but she does find time for the many activities that Summit County offers: skiing, snowshoeing, biking, hiking and golfing.  It was in Breck that she met Ric Rixon, her soulmate and partner of eight years, who can be seen this time of year operating a Snowcat on the mountain at night. 

Hilary’s personal philosophy says a lot about why she is so good at her job.  Hilary believes that people have incredible potential, and that in order to fulfill that potential they need not only to challenge themselves but to be challenged by others to grow in their work and personal relationships.  BGV is fortunate that it is our staff she had chosen to encourage and challenge.