Who We Are
Get to know the team that is bringing back the hill
Tess Bedingfield
Co-Founder
Tess founded SkiGate with Ruth in their senior year at Colgate through the Thought Into Action Incubator Program after dreaming of sharing their love of skiing with their friends and community here in Hamilton throughout their four years at Colgate. As a founder, Tess is involved in overseeing all aspects of executing the SkiGate vision. While at Colgate, Tess majored in History and minored in Classics. She grew up skiing and worked as a PSIA Level I certified instructor at Whiteface mountain throughout high school. Currently, Tess is working as a Litigation Paralegal at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. She is looking to start law school in the fall of 2022 while she continues to work with the SkiGate team to bring this vision to fruition.
Ruth Kissel
Co-Founder
Ruth founded SkiGate with Tess their senior year at Colgate after recognizing a gap between Colgate’s cold winters and the accessibility to skiing, wanting to share her love of this sport with the greater Colgate and Hamilton community. As a co-founder, Ruth also oversees seeing SkiGate’s vision come to fruition. At Colgate, Ruth majored in Computer Science and minored in Sociology. Her mother was a member of the US Freestyle Ski Team and she also grew up as a freestyle competitor and coach at Stratton Mountain, Vermont. Ruth now works as an E-Commerce Associate at Wayfair and looks forward to continuing her work with SkiGate and seeing all that the team will accomplish.
Andrew Derrickson
Programming Chair
Andrew is the Programming Chair for SkiGate. Andrew functions as the project manager by developing timelines, assigning deliverables to team members, and ensuring the continuity of progress towards reopening Trainer Hill. He has a background in project management from his work with The PostureWorks where he serves the role of Digital Marketing Lead, and he is pursuing a major in Economics and a minor in International Relations at Colgate University. Andrew comes from a background of alpine skiing and has been an avid skier since he was 5 years old.
Emma Goodman
Communications Chair
Emma is the Communications Chair for SkiGate. Emma heads up SkiGate's social media, data collection, writing, and more. Emma has a strong interest in data analytics, which she began to learn during her internship at the headhunting firm Long Ridge Partners. Moreover, she is intrigued by the world of communications. Emma is taking full advantage of Colgate's liberal arts curriculum as a computer science major with a double minor in art history and creative writing. Emma has been skiing across the United States since she was three and wants to provide the greater Colgate community with access to the sport.
Owen Gordon
Operations Chair
Owen is the Operations Chair for SkiGate. Owen works directly with Steve Hughes, Associate Vice President for Facilities and Capital Projects, to outline the capital expenditures and needs required to reopen Trainer Hill. As an Economics and Environmental Studies major who is interested in Sustainable business and green investment, he is committed to ensuring that the SkiGate venture is environmentally friendly and sustainable. Owen is dedicated to aligning the necessary capital projects and operations of Trainer Hill with Colgate’s Carbon Neutrality program.
Matt McKenna
Financial Chair
Matt is the Financial Chair of SkiGate. He is responsible for building out the cost of development and projecting out the year-over-year expenses and revenues of operating the ski hill. As a Managing director of the Colgate Investment group and Executive of the Real-estate club, he has experience building out financial models. He has carried over this experience to make detailed financial projections for the hill. As an environmental studies minor, he is committed to making the mountain sustainable from an economic and environmental standpoint, allowing it to be enjoyed through Colgate's third century.