VANCOUVER, British Columbia — David McKenna has been named president and chief executive officer of Rocky Mountaineer. McKenna began his new duties Jan. 4.
McKenna has extensive experience in Canada’s tourism industry. Prior to joining Rocky Mountaineer, he was president of the Banff Jasper Collection by Pursuit where he led tourism expansion and acquisition projects in the Canadian Rockies, including the construction of the Glacier Skywalk and expansion of the Banff Gondola. Prior to joining Pursuit, he held hospitality roles at Sunshine Village and Rimrock Resort Hotel in Banff, and Delta Lodge at Kananaskis.
McKenna currently serves as board chair of the Tourism Industry Association of Canada board of directors and on the board of directors for Travel Alberta. He previously served on the board of directors for Tourism Jasper, Banff & Lake Louise Hospitality Association, Canadian Passenger Vessel Association, the Association for Mountain Parks Protection and Enjoyment, Strategic Tourism Marketing Council (AB), and the Banff Community Foundation.
McKenna is originally from Ottawa, Ontario, where he attended Carleton University.
Rocky Mountaineer began operations in 1990, when the VIA Rail branding was sold to Vancouver businessman Peter R.B. Armstrong’s Armstrong Hospitality Group Ltd., which operated trains from Vancouver to Jasper and Banff. In 2021, the company began service over Union Pacific between Denver and Moab, Utah.
Let’s hope they won’t shut down any route
Rocky Mountaineer is a good operation. Before the border was closed by COVID, they started a US service over the ex-D&RGW (Scenic Line of the World) between Denver and Moab.
RM itself started with ex-CNR flat top coaches and daynighters. No sleepers; you stayed in a hotel overnight. The concept worked in Western Canada where there was no Utah desert to sleep through and they grew from there with bilevel cars rebuilt from gallery commuter cars. .
It’ll be interesting to see what they do next,