At only 28 years old, Willie Ford has made quite a name for himself in the business world since his Wildcat days on the University of New Hampshire ski team. As the Managing Director of POC North America, Ford now calls the mountains of Park City, Utah, home.

Hailing from a long lineage of New England skiers – including an aunt who founded Okemo Mountain School in Ludlow, Vermont – Ford has used the experiences and relationships he built as an athlete to carve out an impressive career in business.

Ford was no slouch on the ski hill either, claiming fame as one of the top collegiate racers in the country, earning two All-American citations while skiing for UNH.

Although a New Englander at heart, making the move west to head up one of the fastest growing protection brands in the country has been a natural progression, and one he has welcomed with open arms. “I really enjoy the environment and location of Park City,” he says. “Fifteen of my best friends are out here that I went UNH with. It’s essentially like living back in Durham, except we’re all mature with jobs and are more responsible.”

Ford’s history with POC dates all the way back to 2007, when the brand was just expanding into North America and Ford was still a college student. At that time, Jarka Duba was president of POC and he established the U.S. headquarters for the company in Portsmouth.

“POC really caught my attention because they were building super-safe equipment for ski racers and I’m passionate about ski racing and I’m passionate about learning about that type of business. So I went and knocked on their door and said, ‘I want to learn as much as I can here. You don’t have to pay me, but I want to come to meetings, I want to learn about the warehouse, I want to learn about customer service.’ And they were like, ‘Who is this kid?’”

Ford’s tenacity caught the attention of Duba and he continued to ski through college as a POC-sponsored athlete while learning the business in between his obligations as a student-athlete. After graduation, Ford took a job at a branding agency and found himself in the fast lane right out of the gate.

Ford finding the fall line as a UNH Wildcat.

“I managed 12 companies within like, two weeks of being there,” he reflects with a chuckle. “I had no idea what I was doing, but learned more that year than I have ever.”

Ford then moved on to work with an Under Armour-affiliated brand in New York City, before Duba came calling with an offer that he couldn’t turn down. “I loved it there (in New York). I loved what I was doing, but Jarka called me and said that the marketing director position opened up here at POC. I love New Hampshire, so I moved back, and since, it’s been a total roller coaster.”

In the years since, Ford has helped grow POC into a prominent brand in the United States, which culminated in the company’s eventual acquisition by Black Diamond Equipment in 2012 and its recent sale to Investcorp, a global provider and manager of alternative investment products.

“We never talk average.”

With the recent acquisition came the move from Portsmouth to Utah along with the construction of new offices, which will open in early June.

“We never talk average. … We lose every once in a while, just like in sports or ski racing. But at the end of the day, you always have this burning desire to win,” says Ford. “In business, you jump off a cliff sometimes with a crazy idea and take a big risk, and you get the same butterflies in your stomach that you did in in the starting gate,” he adds.

Drawing similarities between the business world and life as an elite ski racer isn’t hard for Ford, and he credits much of his success to the lessons learned in his formative days of speed suits and gate bashing.

“If it weren’t for the University of New Hampshire, if it weren’t for the community that I met in ski racing, and if it wasn’t for my life in the ski racing world, there’s no way in hell I would be doing what I’m doing now,” admits Ford. “What I learned most is the need to hustle and the need to get back up on your feet once you get knocked down.”