The president and chief operating officer of Deer Valley Resort left the organization on Monday, the resort said in a statement, a departure that occurred just days before Deer Valley is scheduled to open for the ski season and, importantly, as the resort is engaged in talks with City Hall about a major development proposal at Snow Park.

Jeremy Levitt led Alterra Mountain Company-owned Deer Valley for a little more than a year. He arrived in October of 2020 and oversaw the resort’s broad efforts to operate during the coronavirus pandemic. Levitt helmed the resort during the 2020-2021 ski season, the first full winter of the coronavirus era. The ski season was seen as a success even amid the extraordinary challenges wrought by the spread of the sickness.

Deer Valley is scheduled to open for the 2021-2022 ski season on Saturday.

Deer Valley, meanwhile, is also pursuing a project on the land currently used as the Snow Park parking lots. The resort holds longtime rights to develop the land but must secure another approval from Park City officials before a project can proceed. Levitt was not the resort’s point person in the discussions with the Park City Planning Commission, but as the president of the resort he was believed to have held influence on the direction of the Deer Valley side of the talks.

“We thank Jeremy for his dedication and commitment to Alterra Mountain Company over the years and wish him the best,” Deer Valley said in a prepared statement on Monday evening.

The statement said Alterra Mountain Company intends to announce a new leader for Deer Valley shortly. The statement did not provide details regarding the timing.

Deer Valley said the chief operating officer of Alterra Mountain Company, Mark Brownlie, will oversee the resort until the next president is named. Brownlie has worked in the ski industry for 35 years and spent four years as the president and chief operating officer of Mammoth Mountain in California.

The change in leadership at Deer Valley also comes in the period before there are expected to be high-level talks in the coming months about the prospects of Salt Lake City hosting a second Winter Olympics, possibly the 2030 edition of the Games. Deer Valley is identified as a key competition venue in the map crafted by the committee seeking the event, as was also the case during the Winter Olympics in 2002.

Levitt moved to the Deer Valley post after time at CMH Heli-Skiing & Summer Adventures in Canada. He worked in the financial sector earlier in his career. Some of his career was spent abroad.

“In Austria, it seemed that most people worked to live versus living to work, which is primarily what I had been exposed to in New York City,” he told The Park Record in late 2020. “The seed was planted during my time in Europe, that perhaps I should work in an industry that I was truly passionate about.”

He also said in an interview at that time he “always wanted to live in Park City, having heard so many great things about the community.”