Truax takes on GM position at Sierra Nevada Resort

Pictured: Brent Truax/

Well, that didn’t take long.

Less than two weeks after leaving his post as General Manager of the Westin Monache, Brent Truax took over Monday as the General Manager of the Sierra Nevada Resort.

Rhonda Duggan, who had been serving as General Manager of the Sierra Nevada Lodge, now becomes Director of Sales and Marketing for the entire resort.

Truax said in an interview Wednesday that his goal is to take the resort to “the next level. It needs to be four star,” he said.

“We’ve got the rustic elegance and three great restaurants,” said Truax, whose immediate goal is to develop packages with various partners to offer greater service to help guests coordinate their activities.

The packages will run from the fairly standard (golf, biking, horseback riding) to the eclectic (transportation to local hot tubs with picnic).

Another one of Truax’s immediate priorities is to replace Executive Chef Kerry Mechler, who recently left. Truax acknowledged that the Resort is recruiting from outside the area to fill the position.

Truax, who said he’d been in communication with Resort Owner Jim Demetriades before he left the Westin, is unfazed by Demetriades’s notoriously steep expectations. Editor’s note: Native Vermonters are generally unfazed by most things.

“Jim will give me more leeway to do the things I want to do to raise the experience,” he said.

And Demetriades will provide the resources to do it. Reached by phone on Thursday, Demetriades said the Resort will be hiring for additional management positions.

In the medium-term (over the next five years), Demetriades also said he is interested in building business/conference facilities to accommodate 300 (provided he can work with the Town to ensure the process is both efficient and economically feasible) and a pool/spa facility.

Short-term goals include the construction of a porte cochere and installation of elevators.