Congratulations to our 2024 Team Members of the Year
Photo L-R, Tanner, Yani, Joe, Brandon, Jordan and Brian
We love our employees and we recognize that the way they treat our customers and each other has a lot to do with whether or not your family returns to our resort. That’s why we compile our customer compliments monthly, and together with our directors’ input, award two outstanding employees each month. Then, on a quarterly basis, the resort also honors the two best employees and two best managers at the resort. Finally, once a year we select the “Manager of the Year” and “Employee of the Year” for having the ultimate “can-do” attitude and for exceeding guest expectations.
The 2024 “Manager of the Year” was Brian, who has been with our resort since 2021 and serves as a Digital Media Specialist. According to Brian’s supervisor, “Brian has constantly proved he is an expert in the digital media field. His dedication to excellence and calm demeanor has made him an extremely valuable member of our Wilderness family. Brian is always cool under pressure in dealing with website issues and creates some amazing videos and graphics company wide. He has also taken over the Soaky Mountain Waterpark website and pushed it to a new level. His title is Digital Media Specialist but it might as well be Digital
Ninja.”
The 2024 “Employee of the Year” was Jordan, who has been with our resort since 2016 and in the Attractions Department since 2018. According to Jordan’s supervisor, “Jordan started at Wilderness in 2016 as a slide attendant. After various Aquatics roles, Jordan joined
Attractions in 2018. Since then, he has worked in all locations as an associate, received several promotions and is currently serving as Attractions Maintenance Supervisor. In his position, Jordan is responsible for overseeing the maintenance of all attractions and arcades. Jordan works well with others and does a little bit of everything maintenance related for the department. No project is too big or too small for Jordan – and he is always willing to take on anything that we assign to him.”
Both Brian and Jordan received the choice of either a voucher for a vacation from select destinations in the United States and abroad, 40 hours of vacation time, and $1,000 spending money or 40 hours of vacation time and $2,000 spending money as a thank you for a job beyond well done.
Each year, we also recognize one outstanding employee and one manager for providing exceptional customer service. Their award is named S.T.A.R.S. (Striving to Achieve Remarkable Service).
Tanner, who joined our resort in 2016 and works as a server at Field’s, was named our “S.T.A.R.S. 2024 Customer Service Employee of the Year.” According to his supervisor, “Tanner has been an integral part of our service team at Field’s since 2016. He puts his all into guest satisfaction and doing the right thing to make sure our guests have a great evening at our bar and lounge. His hustle sets the tone for busy nights and his passion to make things right for our guests.”
The “S.T.A.R.S. 2024 Customer Service Manager of the Year” was Yani, who has been with our resort since 2018 and serves as one of our IT Technicians. According to Yani’s supervisor, “Yani has been an integral addition to the Wilderness Resort IT team. She has shown a unique ability to stay calm and focused when employees are having difficult issues with their computer or other IT related problems. Yani is always friendly and polite and willing to assist any employee having issues that affect their work or the guests’ stay. She is always ready to assist with any project and will get the job done in a timely manner. Yani is a valuable asset to the IT team and the entire resort.”
Tanner and Yani each received $500 as part of their recognition.
We’d like to congratulate all of these fantastic employees and also thank each of them for a job well done!