At 64, Warren Cook, a former Sugarloaf/USA owner and American Skiing Co. officer, is back at the helm, this time as general manager of Saddleback Mountain ski area.

DALLAS PLANTATION – The bumper sticker sitting on a window ledge in Warren Cook’s humble office says a lot about the 64-year-old ski executive’s sense of humor.

“Remember when Sugarloaf was new and Saddleback was old?” the sticker queries.

Cook, who once owned Sugarloaf/USA and later served as chief operating officer for the American Skiing Co. – which purchased the resort from him – is now the general manager and CEO at the Saddleback ski area near Rangeley.

The resort, at the end of what may be the longest ski-hill access road in Maine, is in the midst of a revival under the ownership of Bill Berry and his family. Additions in recent years include chairlifts, snow-making capacity and trails.

On any given winter weekend, its brand-new base lodge is packed to the post-and-beam rafters with skiers and riders. New condos allow more on-mountain stays, and the 8,000-acre property – including a small lake and what marketers boast as the largest experts-only terrain in New England – is rapidly becoming one of the worst-kept secrets in Maine.

Deals for Mainers, on special days, include $25 lift tickets.

Cook, quiet in demeanor, was working on his birthday. He sat smiling as he talked about the resort’s expansion plans for the next decade. That most men his age are contemplating retirement, if not already retired, hasn’t even dawned on him.

“I’m more happy doing stuff,” he said.

Bumpy ride

Cook’s route to Saddleback takes more twists and turns than an old-fashioned New England ski run. He started in the ski business at a bankrupt Sugarloaf in 1986, was the top executive of one of the biggest, if shortest-lived, ski companies in the country (ASC), served as president of JAX Research Systems at Jackson Laboratory on Mount Desert Island, flipped resort properties in Japan and consulted for resort development and redevelopment projects in both southeast and northeast China.

Before any of that, he headed a chemical-fabrication firm that made materials for the aerospace and communications industries, taught school and served as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves.

His route to Saddleback has also been fraught with bumps, even crevices. In 2003 he endured a scandal when he was outed for putting false information on a resume, prompting his resignation from Jackson Lab. Cook listed a degree he did not earn and a military decoration he was not awarded.

“Those were my lies; I owned up to it immediately and resigned,” Cook said. He has apologized for the misjudgment and admits in many ways the experience was a relief and made him a better person in the end.

“It took me six months,” Cook said. “But that enabled me to correct something that was wrong, and had been wrong for many years.”

In 2007, he and former rival-turned-friend and sometime business partner, Les Otten, made an unsuccessful bid to buy back Sugarloaf and Sunday River after the breakup of ASC. He left American Skiing in the first place, he says, because he didn’t like how Otten was doing some things.

Cook also has a history of service to nonprofit organizations in Maine, many focused on bolstering the state’s rural economy and building collaboration among service groups.

A charitable trust he oversees distributes thousands of dollars to help poor local children gain access to expensive sports like skiing and to help build networks of small businesses that can collectively market themselves.

A recent passion is his work raising money for the production and distribution of a documentary film being made by WGBH in Boston about the troop greeters at the Bangor International Airport.

“It’s a really cool project,” said Cook, whose son is a Marine serving a fourth tour in Iraq and who had one prior tour in Afghanistan. The film focuses on the elderly volunteers who have made it their mission to personally greet every military member laying over at the airport, a regular refueling stop on the way to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Big-resort experience

The vision for Saddleback going forward, he says, is one of a true four-season resort. To do that well, water access and plans for a Saddleback marina on Rangeley Lake are in the works. The recapitalization of the resort will depend on selling real estate, including a phase of homes and condominiums, Cook said.

A customer service advocate, Cook has also pushed the staff to do all they can to make Saddleback feel like a home away from home. Cook leads the charge by greeting skiers and riders at the lodge or ski lifts each morning. He may also be found offering direction to wayward skiers at the top of the resort’s new lift.

Nancy Marshall, a public relations expert and longtime friend of Cook, said he doesn’t talk much but is a good listener.

For example, Marshall said, she was at the finish of a ski race on a recent frigid day. “We were saying how nice it would be to have some hot chocolate for the fans,” Marshall said. Cook said nothing, but 20 minutes later a five-gallon thermos of hot chocolate was delivered to the race finish.

“You know, we weren’t even that serious, but that’s Warren,” Marshall said.

Greg Sweetser, executive director of Ski Maine, the association of the state’s ski resorts, said Cook has always placed a premium on customer service and quality service.

Cook leads by example and has always been a “visible president or CEO,” Sweetser said.

“He understands the value of listening and hearing truly what people say,” Sweetser said. “I think he is trying to internalize what people say because a lot of great ideas come from the customer. They can be small ideas and they can be big ideas, but he has mastered that art.”

Sweetser, who worked as Saddleback’s spokesman for 18 years, said Cook’s experience at bigger resorts will be a benefit to Saddleback as it grows.

“Saddleback doesn’t have to become the biggest resort in the country, but it does have to pay attention to all the big-resort issues,” Sweetser said. Whether it’s how to manage a large staff, increase on-hill lodging or offer the right vacation packages to keep the beds full and the mountain busy, Cook has been there, done that, Sweetser said.

“He will be bringing all those big-mountain experiences to Saddleback, helping them be as efficient as possible as they go through this next phase of growth,” Sweetser said. “That will prove tremendously valuable.”

Currently, the resort is backed financially by the Berry family, but Cook hopes to make the business self-sustaining, he said.

Increased collaboration and cooperation with local governments and business will also be a hallmark of his tenure at Saddleback, Cook said.

Part of his job is to create more four-season jobs in the region. Even in a lagging economy, real estate sales have grown 20 percent since September. Part of the reason is that Maine’s recreation industry historically has weathered national slumps in spending.

Even so, Cook makes clear he has no intention of creating a one-stop revenue machine or a monopoly on outdoor tourism in the Rangeley Lakes. Weekly meetings with town officials help keep the resort’s commitment to the local community and its reliance on it intertwined, Cook said.

“You don’t have to do it all exclusively, nor can you,” Cook said. “There’s no one organization or industry that can get the job done.”