Kathie Thayne

Executive of the Year
Kathie Thayne
Former CEO: Huntsman World Senior Games
St. George, Utah

Kathie Thayne moved with her husband from Salt Lake City to St. George, Utah, about 15 years ago to retire. "I was going to paint," she said. "He was going to ride his horse."

It didn't work out that way. On a lark, Thayne took over as the CEO of the Huntsman World Senior Games. A key factor in her hiring was her experience running the Dickens Christmas Festival in Salt Lake City.

When Thayne, who is now 62, took over, the Games were a relatively small event that attracted about 1,000 senior athletes to St. George in the southwestern corner of Utah. Thayne's mission was to grow the Games. The first step was hiring full-time staff. "Putting together a remarkable team, that was the key to the whole thing, and that's one of my strong suits," said Thayne, who credits Nancy Colarossi, Dan Needy, Mona Given, Merrill Barney, among others, as being key members of the staff.

During Thayne's tenure, the event has grown tenfold. The Games now host 10,000 athletes over a two-week periodevery October. Thayne also notes that demographics helped. "That wasn't us," she said. "That was the Baby Boomers turning 50 and going kicking and screaming into old age."

After 14 years at the helm, Thayne retired after the 2007 Huntsman World Senior Games. She will stay on the boardof trustees and has yielded the CEO position to Kyle Case, formerly the head of the Utah State Games.

Thayne has six grandchildren (with one on the way), all of whom live in St. George. "That's what I'm going to do this next year: I'm going to be grandma," she said.