Michael Kirn

2025 Town Council Candidate

Professional Background/Occupation:

I have worked for Accenture Professional Services as a Global Marketing Consultant for 15 years with a primary focus on retail and health care clients. My focus within Marketing Consulting is Marketing Operations Efficiency and Customer Experience, i.e. how can we help our clients reach more customers with the most relevant message, at the best time, as quickly and as cost effectively as possible. Beginning at Accenture as a college intern in 2009, I now work regularly Marketing VPs and Chief Marketing Officers to design global marketing operating models for fortune 500 companies. My job requires me to be a quick study of a client’s issues and outcome driven to swiftly recommend a series of changes that will help create an improved experience / efficiency within a client’s organization. I love my job as it requires me to collaborate with people from all over the world on-a-daily basis, which educates me on different global perspectives.

Length of Time as Town Resident:

I have been a full-time resident of Mountain Village for the last 2 years, a year and a half of which were spent living at Village Court Apartments (VCA) and 6 months of that at the newly completed Meadowlark property in the Meadows. Prior to Mountain Village, my wife and I were residents of Telluride for 2 years. As a regular visitor here throughout my life, I always dreamed of living in the area when I was younger. My wife and I feel extremely fortunate that this is the place we get to raise our family.

Previous Political Experience/Specific Qualifications:

I have no prior political experience but have served as a leader on several teams within Accenture, being asked to swiftly read Statements of Work, Operating Model and Design solutions, or learn about new clients to have to meet with them sometimes as soon as the next day. A key part of my job is to rapidly understand a client’s current challenges so we can quickly address areas of improvement. As a result, this forces me to be a quick read, an asker of good and penetrating questions and a solution-oriented thinker. I am also comfortable addressing a large group and speaking on issues that I am accountable for and passionate about, speaking to groups of hundreds at a time. My job enables me to work with people from various global locations, with different perspectives and motivations, it also encourages me to treat each client challenge uniquely while at the same time, leveraging my 15-year’s experience on the job. If I am lucky enough to serve on the Town Council, I will approach each issue with the full extent of my experience but treat each issue individually and with an open mind.

Reasons You Would Like to Serve:

It is truly a dream come true to live in Mountain Village full-time and for my wife and I to have the opportunity to raise our family here in town. I have always been passionate about supporting local efforts in the community in which I live. When living on the east coast, I served the community within the Big Brothers Big Sisters Organization for several years. Here in our community, I have worked with the Telluride Adaptive Sports Program for 3 winters as a guide and it has been amazing working with athletes of all abilities. As the spouse of a town employee, our family has benefited from being able to live at VCA. We were also recently able to qualify for the deed restriction at the new Meadowlark property in the Meadows, which has been an amazing step in our ability to live our dream of being in this community long-term. Additionally, we have an 18-month-old daughter who is in the Mountain Munchkins Daycare program (run through the town) and have seen the outstanding work the team there has done taking care of our little one. I feel it is critical for Town Council to have additional representation of someone in town that has benefited from some of these programs/opportunities, works full-time, and is raising a family here. I feel it is also important that I look to give back to a community that has enabled so much happiness for me and my family.

Other Information You Want to Include:

My wife Lauren and I got married in town 5 years ago and we have a daughter that is 18 months old. Like most in our wonderful community, we enjoy being outdoors, skiing, hiking, paddling and or even just hanging by the river on a summer day. You will see us around town riding the gondola or bus or chatting with friends in the plaza. I am a music lover and adore the access we have in our area to such amazing live performances. I am a big sports fan (especially baseball and hockey) and am happy to talk to anyone about any sport they are interested in. I truly just enjoy seeing other people passionate about their favorite things. Lastly, I love to run and have tried to do either the Telluride Mountain Run or the Imogene Pass Run every year since we moved here, and I am planning to run one of the races again this year.