Episode Details

EP 2-26 Mike Keller

Wendy Corr:

Well, hey there folks, welcome to The Roundup. We are a Cowboy State Daily podcast, and we focus on interesting people in the Cowboy State. And I am so tickled to be able to have a conversation today with this gentleman who not only grew up just outside the Cowboy State, but he is living his dream career in Yellowstone National Park, and we're just going to have a great time today.

First, I want to let you know that we have other wonderful podcasts that are homegrown right here in Wyoming, and one of them is very, very important for people who are business people, it's the Wyoming Business Alliance business from the basement podcast. I highly recommend checking out their podcast - if you are a business person, if you are thinking about becoming a business person in the cowboy state, check out the Wyoming Business Alliance and their business from the basement podcast for great resources and great conversations.

But first, don't go there yet, because first we have to talk with Mike Keller. Mike is a general manager for Xanterra, which is the concessionaire for the restaurants, the lodges, things like that in Yellowstone National Park. If you've gone to Yellowstone and you've stopped at a store, if you've had lunch, if you have stayed overnight, you have worked with Xanterra, and they're wonderful people, and Mike has been there...

Well, I'm going to let Mike tell you the story, because he's got a great story about his association with Yellowstone and with Xanterra. Mike Keller, it's a beautiful day in Yellowstone National Park, isn't it?

Mike Keller:

It is. Wendy, thank you very much. It is such a privilege to be here and speaking with you today. Thank you for the opportunity.

Wendy Corr:

Oh my gosh, no. This is great. I was telling Mike before we got started that he has been high on my list of people to get for this podcast, and so I honestly didn't think I'd be able to get him in the summer season, when things are so busy, but here he is, able to carve out just a little bit of time for us to tell us about his amazing work at Yellowstone, and the people he works with, and the people he gets to be, and the wildlife right outside his door.

Mike, you've got the best office in the world - if you're outside of the four walls anyway.

Mike Keller:

Yeah, even when I'm stuck indoors, I'm still in a great, awesome place to be, for certain, exactly. So yeah, for sure.

Wendy Corr:

So Mike, tell us about, we'll start out with the present. Tell us about your job right now, your general manager, and especially over the lodges, right? Tell us about what your job is there at at Yellowstone for Xanterra.

Mike Keller:

Thank you. It literally is, is everything you know, just you know, when we have, you know, over four and a half million visitors a year coming into Yellowstone National Park, and we're assigned over 850 buildings in this park to operate on behalf of the National Park Service.

So we're responsible for making sure we have the lodging taken care of most of the dining outlets in the park, retail outlets. We have marine operations on Yellowstone Lake. We have the horse operation at Roosevelt. We do all kinds of summer and winter transportation for visitors, whether it's bus tours or snow coach charters in the wintertime or the snow coach tour for mammoth faithful and back.

It's a large operation here. You know, we have about 2300 guest rooms. We do over 2 million meals a year in the park in the summertime here. You know, kind of situation, we have about 3500 people we hire to fill our seasonal operation here in the summertime