Longtime Sunlight Mountain Resort General Manager and part owner Tom Jankovsky was honored with the President’s Award during the recent 54th annual meeting of Colorado Ski Country USA.

Jankovsky has also served on the Colorado Ski Country USA board of trustees since 1986, and is stepping down from that position after 31 years.

Recruited to the Ski Country board in 1986 by then-president Bob Knous, Jankovsky was acknowledged at the recent meeting for his influence in creating the fifth-grade passport program.

“The program has become wildly popular and provides free skiing for fifth-graders at participating resorts,” the organization explained in a recent newsletter article honoring Jankovsky.

Jankovsky also helped create the Colorado Gems card, a program intended to drive business to some of the state’s smaller ski areas.

The article quotes Melanie Mills, president and CEO for the organization, who said that Jankovsky “helped steer the organization through tremendous change in the industry.

“He has ensured that smaller ski areas have a voice at our table. We will miss his thoughtful perspective and are grateful for his record-setting and impactful tenure on our board,” she said.

A native Coloradan, Jankovsky worked at a number of ski resorts both in Colorado and around the western U.S., working his way up from a lift operator at Sunlight in 1973 to the general manager and a part-owner of Sunlight Mountain Resort since 1985.

In 2012, Jankovsky was inducted into the Colorado Ski and Snowboard Museum and Hall of Fame. He also is in his second term as an elected Garfield County commissioner.