David Ingemie has been the driving force behind SnowSports Industries America, taking the pulse of this complex industry for nearly four decades and keeping it pumping.

David Ingemie didn’t come from a skiing family, but he remembers in 1952 when a neighbor who took him to the city-run Burbank Hill in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. One loop on that free rope-tow and he was hooked.

When he was just twelve his father passed away, leaving him – the oldest of three boys – the head of the house. For some, that would have meant the end of any ski dreams, but for David, there was a will and he found a way.

He did anything he could to afford to ski and at fifteen, he was hired as a ski instructor. In college, he organized a race league to supply equipment and uniforms. His work ethic and energy paid off. At twenty-one, he was hired as Marketing Director at Wachusett Mountain, and for the next decade he added to his marketing and promotion resumé with Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce and the New Hampshire Ski Area Operations. At twenty-eight, he was named Jaycees Outstanding Round Man of America.

The door opened to the job of a lifetime in 1976, when he was hired as Marketing Director for SIA. Just five years later, he succeeded Ralph “Doc” Des Roches to become SIA’s President.

Heading up a trade organization that oversees an industry, dependent on weather, with only a 90 – at best 120 – day window to turn a profit, takes talent. David flourished at the pace, as well as the need to analyze and adapt. Imagine, when he started with SIA, there were no high speed lifts, no shaped skis, no terrain parks and Jake Burton had yet to build a snowboard. He has truly witnessed a revolution in how we glide on the snow. And through it all, this “Change Agent” has led with a commitment to keep SIA’s market research and data relevant and keeping the slopes open for new ideas. Why? Because to David; “You never forget your first time. The neighbor who introduces you to the sport.”

His passion and leadership has made a world of a difference. SIA’s membership expanded from 186 to 1,000 and the annual SnowShow in Denver is heralded as the only global event where 1,000+ brands are represented in an authentic arena, both on and off the snow.

Those “in the know” credit David as the “glue” that kept the momentum moving for snow sports. David will tell you, “I had a great team and I was lucky enough to be riding at the right place at the right time.”

David retired in January of 2016, but you will surely find him along with his wife, Nancy, and their children and grandchildren making memories on the mountains.

Career Highlights:

1969: Marketing Director for Wachusett Mountain Ski Area
1972: Executive Director of Mt. Washington Valley Chamber of Commerce
1976: Named Jaycees “Outstanding Young Man of America”
1976: Joined SnowSports Industries America as Marketing Director
1981: Promoted to SIA President
2016: Retired from SIA