R. Bruce Nourjian, owner of the Commodores Inn, has been named Stowe Business Person of the Year.
The award was presented by the Stowe Area Association at its annual membership dinner, held at the Green Mountain Inn.
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Vermont Community Newspaper Group
R. Bruce Nourjian, owner of the Commodores Inn, has been named Stowe Business Person of the Year.
The award was presented by the Stowe Area Association at its annual membership dinner, held at the Green Mountain Inn.
Nourjian has a long and eclectic history in the Stowe business community, and has been an influential player in the development of Stowe as a tourist destination.
He grew up in South Dartmouth, Mass., and pursued the life of a ski bum. He worked in the kitchen at Little Nell in Aspen, peeling potatoes, and soon after landed in Stowe.
Among his business ventures were building and owning The Matterhorn nightclub; developing real estate in the Notchbrook area; founding a cookie company; running a construction company; developing Stowe Cable; and partnering in the Stowe Car Wash.
He was a member of the Stowe Planning Commission and the town zoning board for 22 years, has been part of Stowe Rotary for 45 years, is among the founders of the Vermont Ski and Snowboard Museum, and is past president of both the Stowe Land Trust and the Stowe Area Association. He is currently the vice president and treasurer of the Stowe Area Association.
“In many people’s minds, Bruce is considered the Donald Trump of Stowe,” joked Chuck Baraw, president of the Stowe Area Association. “Not by comparing hairstyles, but because of the ‘art of the deal.’ He has a rich history of trading for most anything.”
In his acceptance speech, Nourjian gave credit to his family and to the “incredibly strong, smart women in my life” — Wendy, his wife of 32 years, who died in 1999; and Carrie, his wife for the past 11 years.
Nourjian has four children, five stepchildren, seven grandchildren, and four step-grandchildren, with another on the way this month.
Among his passions is sailing. He is highly experienced in extreme ocean racing in Hawaii, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Rolex Fastnet Race. He has completed 25 consecutive Newport-Bermuda races and crewed for Ted Turner on his America’s Cup team in the early 1980s. He owns a 47-foot Wauquiez sloop, which is moored in Marion, Mass., at the Beverly Yacht Club.
In 1985, Bruce built the Commodores Inn in Stowe, partly in homage to his love of sailing. He also started the Stowe Yacht Club, which hosts races of miniature remote-controlled sailboats in the pond behind Commodores. He has been two-time national champion and one-time Canadian champion in the model yacht races.
Stowe Area Association is a membership-based destination marketing organization; it has worked to promote the Stowe brand for 80 years.
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