“I’m helping it grow, yes, but even more keeping it sustainable,” Jim Thomsen tells me from his Mammoth Lakes, Calif. home. This year, Thomsen—who used to oversee acquisitions for VF Corp, including The North Face—brought his business acumen to the Yosemite Climbing Association (YCA) to help it reach the next level.
Until recently, YCA faced a challenging time, but putting it on a growth curve has myriad challenges. Various executive directors had come and gone, even an artist in residence and prominent climbers deeply ingrained in Yosemite’s culture. Though passionate, they were inexperienced in running a non-profit corporation or sharing founder Ken Yager’s vision. Money came in, money went out, and leadership mistakes were made. The problems grew—even as their annual Yosemite Facelift events, the biggest yearly happening in the…
