Windham, NY – Windham Mountain president and general manager Tim Woods will assume ownership of the Woods Valley Ski Area in Westernville, N.Y., about 15 miles northwest of Utica, by early autumn.

Woods will continue to serve as president and general manager at Windham Mountain through the end of the 2011-12 ski season.

Randy MacDonald, managing partner of Windham Mountain Partners, said that he was surprised by Woods’ decision, but that the move was a “wonderful story.”

“Tim’s 15-year tenure at Windham Mountain is filled with wonderful accomplishments,” MacDonald said. “He now finds himself in a position to fulfill his father’s vision. That he is doing this speaks volumes about his character. On a personal note, I will miss him professionally, but more importantly, I will miss him as a personal friend.”

MacDonald said that Woods would remain at Windham Mountain during the upcoming ski season, working with the management team, the ownership partners and a new general manager, for whom a search is currently underway. The change won’t have any impact on programs, operations or capital improvements, he said.

Woods Valley was created by Tim Woods’s late father, David, in 1964. His family sold the resort upon David Woods’s premature death in 1988. Tim Woods will purchase the ski area from the Olney family, which purchased it from the Woods family.

“It’s something of a bittersweet moment,” Woods said. “I’ll miss being at Windham Mountain every day, and spending so much time with a mountain, a team and a community that I love. But now I also have a remarkable opportunity to return to where my wife and I grew up, be close to my mother and siblings, and to complete my father’s work.”