Roslyn, Wash. -- The new Suncadia Resort has added Sean Cracraft and Libby Nations to its staff.
Cracraft, who spent more than five years as director of golf for the Sunriver Resort in Oregon, has been hired as vice president and general manager. Nations, who was director of sales and marketing for six years at Dolce Skamania Lodge in Stevenson, Wash., will take over as sales and marketing manager for Suncadia Resort.
Suncadia Resort’s Prospector Inn is scheduled for a July opening and features guestrooms and suites with fireplaces and decks complete with rocking chairs. It overlooks the 18-hole Prospector Course, a layout designed by the Arnold Palmer Course Design Company set within a pine and fir forest, splashed with lakes and ponds. It is the first of three planned golf courses at Suncadia.
The Rope Rider Course, created by Jacobsen Hardy Golf Course Design and intended for families and young golfers, is set for a 2006 opening.
Cracraft will oversee the operations for the developing resort in Roslyn, Wash., including lodging, rental properties, golf, food and beverage, recreation, spa, club operations, resort and club sales and marketing and facilities maintenance.
“The transition into here was very easy for me,” Cracraft says. “I have a lot of background with the project. To be able to be involved from when this place was just dirt all the way up to now was incredible.
“This is just a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Cracraft adds. “To be involved in a 6,000-acre master planned resort from a point before we had any operating assets to where we are now is incredible. Couple that with a whole change of direction, moving away from just golf into total resort management, it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. I’m able to learn and grow and spend a lot of time at place where no two days are the same.”
Cracraft has a diverse history in the golf business, including his tenure at Sunriver, which started in early 1999. As director of golf, Cracraft oversaw the entire golf operations for the 36-hole resort. His emphasis was on course maintenance, guest services and resort retail. During his time at the resort, the Meadows course hosted the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links Championship, while the Woodlands course hosted a U.S. Mid-Amateur qualifier.
As sales and marketing manager for Suncadia, Nations will coordinate all media and advertising efforts for the resort as well as on-site and off-site marketing events. She will also head up the sales and reservations process and will coordinate all efforts to fill the Inn and Resort with leisure travelers and group guests.
Prior to coming to Suncadia, Nations was at Dolce Skamania since 1997, starting as national account manager before being promoted to director of sales and marketing. She was responsible for all resort sales at a resort that had an annual budget of $8.5 million in room revenue.
“This is such a nice opportunity for all of Washington and the Northwest to have a beautiful resort destination to come to and to watch develop in to a community,” Nations says.