Vail Resorts, Inc. announced Kenny Thompson, Jr. would join as the company's first Chief Public Affairs Officer. In the newly created role, Thompson will oversee government relations, community relations, communications, sustainability and the company's social responsibility platform, EpicPromise. Thompson brings two decades of public affairs experience to Vail Resorts, including four years with the Obama White House, where he served as Director of Message Events for Vice President Joe Biden, Senior Advisor to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk, and Special Assistant and Advance Lead for President Barack Obama.

For the past nine years, Thompson has worked in external affairs for PepsiCo, in Washington D.C., most recently as the company's Vice President of External Affairs focused on stakeholder engagement. Through the pandemic, he led a $7 million community partnership program that spanned 15 U.S. cities to support health-related needs and economic revival programs. In 2020, Thompson was selected to serve on the Biden -- Harris Transition as Private Sector Liaison where he provided strategic and management oversight of the interaction with the private sector. Currently, Thompson serves on the Board of Trustees at Texas Christian University and the Board of Advisors at the Georgetown Institute of Politics.

In 2021, Thompson was appointed by President Biden to serve as a Commissioner on the President's Commission of White House Fellowships. In 2022, he was awarded the Washington Business Journal's Diversity in Business award.