Explore Whitefish director proud of accomplishments among challenging situations

After serving as the Executive Director of the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau, also known as Explore Whitefish, for the past 10 years, Dylan Deane-Boyle is heading 600 miles due west for his next adventure.

Deane-Boyle has been named the new President and CEO of Visit Bellingham Whatcom County, Washington. He announced his plans to the Whitefish City Council earlier this month.

“It’s certainly very bittersweet for me,” he began. “I’m so honored and proud of the accomplishments during my tenure at Explore Whitefish. We’ve done a very good job of building shoulder season business while also making decisions on a community-first basis.”

He said the partnership between Explore Whitefish and the City has been a very special one and has made a number of noteworthy accomplishments possible.

“Thanks, Dylan,” Mayor John Muhlfeld said. “You should be very proud of the work you’ve done here and we’re certainly proud of you and appreciate all your efforts over the last 10 years.”

Deane-Boyle worked his last day earlier this month, and is ready, along with his wife Courtney, their one-year-old son and their cat, to make the move to Bellingham. They plan to ski at the Mount Baker Ski Area which is about an hour from town and will have recreational opportunities with Bellingham Bay and Lake Whatcom nearby.

“Looking forward to the challenge but my family and I will very much miss Whitefish and always be a champion for Whitefish no matter where we go,” he said. “We’ll always have our roots here. It will always be home.”

HIS WORK, together with the staff, board of directors, contracted agencies and numerous volunteers built shoulder season business, navigated challenges and kept a community-first mindset at the forefront. Deane-Boyle highlighted three campaigns that stand out to him.

“What I'm most proud of is the work we have done when we’ve been challenged the most,” he said. “The way our community stood together against hate, stood in solidarity with our Jewish community and really made sure that the world knew that we are not a place for hate. We are not an anti-Semitic and unwelcoming community.”

The second is how Whitefish handled the pandemic. By forging a partnership with the City of Whitefish through the Whitefish COVID Cares Program, they were able to leverage safety supplies for businesses.

This program allowed the Whitefish Convention and Visitors Bureau (WCVB) to partner with groups they wouldn’t have previously and as a result, they developed the Friend of the Fish education campaign.

Thirdly, Deane-Boyle is proud of the Whitefish Sustainable Tourism Management Plan and is happy that it was approved and is now being implemented. Aside from the programs he’s worked on, the people he has worked with also bring him a sense of pride.

”I’ve had a great staff and agencies and people to work with,” he said. “It really is a full team effort.”

As executive director of the WCVB, Deane-Boyle worked with a nine-member, completely volunteer board.

“In my opinion, nothing good happens by chance. It's really based upon hard work and a lot of it is… volunteer-based,” he said. “The amount of work that this community (does) on a volunteer basis is incredible and is so unique.

“Something that I think is really endearing about Whitefish is that we’re able to come together and look at challenges and meet them very positively and collaboratively, and so much of that is done on a volunteer basis.”

BEFORE LANDING in Whitefish, Deane-Boyle had gathered experience in the tourism industry while growing up in Colorado and Hawaii and working jobs that were hospitality-related — golf courses, coffee shops, restaurants. Later, he earned his undergraduate degree in marketing and his master’s degree in parks, tourism and recreation management.

“I’ve always been kind of a hospitality and tourism-oriented person, both personally and professionally, from where I've lived to the jobs that I've had,” he said.

In 2010, he moved to Whitefish and ran the Crown of the Continent Geotourism Project which is under the wing of the WCVB and is a transboundary partnership between Alberta, British Columbia and Montana. He still sits on the executive committee for the project.

In February 2014, Deane-Boyle replaced Jan Metzmaker as executive director of Explore Whitefish.

“Jan (is a) former city councilor, really just a very grassroots, community-oriented person, so I was so fortunate to be able to build upon this amazing foundation that Jan built,” said Deane-Boyle. “She's a mentor to this day. Really can’t thank her enough for all that work.”

Something else that stands out to Deane-Boyle is the selflessness of people in Whitefish and the warm and welcoming feeling here. He said when he arrived, he felt at home right away, and that is something that adds to the bittersweet feel of his move.

“I’m excited for this new opportunity that was presented,” he said. “I think I'll be able to bring a lot of the experience that I've acquired here, in Whitefish, to that new position.”