Stuart Abelson

In 2019, Stuart Abelson founded Better & Faster Together, a national non-profit organization committed to facilitating, through education and awareness, a healthy competitive environment that ensures the life lessons of competitive ski racing are central to the experience.

Abelson graduated Phi Beta Kappa and Magna Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience from Bates College in 1997, where he was a Charles A. Dana Scholar and was presented the Bruce Stangle Award for Distinguished Service. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (2005). Abelson recently stepped down as President & CEO of Ora, Inc., the world leader in ophthalmic drug and device development, in order to focus on development areas within the company.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker recently appointed Abelson to the board of the Mass. Life Science Center, an economic development and investment agency dedicated to supporting the growth and development of the life sciences in Massachusetts.

Abelson is a commercial seaplane and helicopter pilot, an accomplished athlete (where accolades include national trick water-ski champion and four-time NCWSA All-American) and is currently training as a masters alpine ski racer.

Abelson’s most important priority is to be a loving and supportive father to Sam (10) and Audrey (11) and to be a role model for them.

Krista Crabtree

Krista Crabtree grew up in New Hampshire on the slopes every winter weekend with her mom and dad (who still competes on the masters ski race circuit). After racing NASTAR at age 5, she was hooked. Crabtree raced for Bates College as well as played tennis and waterskied (she graduated in 1995 with a B.A. in English, Concentration in Creative Writing). While at Bates, Crabtree got her Level 100 USSA coaches certification. After college, Crabtree coached U10s at Ski Club Vail in Vail, Colorado, and taught at Vail Valley Ski Academy. She later moved to Boulder to attend graduate school at the University of Colorado (receiving an M.A. in Creative Writing in 2000). She coached at Eldora Mountain Resort and joined SKI Magazine as an intern. The internship turned into full-time job as an editor, where she covered fashion, instruction and gear (she was a ski and boot tester and director of the women’s ski test). She also joined PSIA-AASI and got her Level I cert.

During the past decade, Krista launched a freelance writing career (writing for publications such as SKI and Outside Magazine), started She Skis Women’s Ski Testing Clinics in Vail, organized national ski tests and received her Level II cert and Children’s Specialist II. She currently runs the women’s program at Eldora, coaches for Vail’s Her Turn clinics, organizes women’s ski clinics, coaches U14s for Eldora Mountain Ski Team and is the head coach for the Nederland Middle School Ski Team. She enjoys raising (and coaching) her daughter, Trinity (13) in the mountains with her husband Ed.

Jennifer Bott

Jennifer Bott feels that she was blessed by her friendship with Betsy O’Leary Abelson and brings to Better & Faster Together her love for Betsy and gratitude for who she was and what she represented.

Bott graduated cum laude from Boston University, School of Management (1988) with a B.S. in Business Administration, concentration in Finance; with honors, Juris Doctor (1991) from George Washington University; and from Boston University (2003) with a M.A. in Taxation Law. Her legal practice focuses primarily on corporate work (including mergers and acquisitions) and estate planning.

Bott is a mother to three daughters: Isabelle, Charlotte and Madeleine (14, 12 and 12, respectively) and lives in Sudbury, Massachusetts, during the off-season, and Sunday River, Maine, in the winter. Isabelle and Charlotte are alpine racers with Gould Academy and Madeleine is free skier and snowboarder.

Julia Ford

As a former member of the U.S. Ski Team, Julia Ford competed in 40 World Cup races, won three national titles, and competed in the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.

Ford grew up in New Hampshire as the third of four Ford children. A passion for sport and competition was instilled in her at young age, where she participated in almost every sport and thoroughly enjoyed the pursuit of bettering herself. Before joining the U.S. Ski Team, she was a multi-sport athlete at Holderness School. At Holderness, Ford was friends with Betsy O’Leary (Abelson), who, she says, embodied great sportsmanship and team building skills—which later became the backbone of Better & Faster Together, inspired by O’Leary.

As Ford finished her ski racing career, she attended GroundSwell Institute, where she studied entrepreneurial owner-management through scenario-based learning. Currently, Ford is the Assistant Athletic Director and Director of Alpine Ski Racing at Cardigan Mountain School in Canaan, New Hampshire.

Marina Pappas

Marina Pappas serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Sword & Spoon Group, where she oversees the operations of for-profit and not-for-profit partnerships. Prior to her role at Sword & Spoon, Marina was the Chief Administrative Officer for both the Committee on Capital Markets Regulation (the Committee) and the Program on International Financial Systems (PIFS). Early in her career, Marina worked in operations at Easterly Capital, LLC and its related entities.

Marina graduated from Bates College in Maine with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in European History. She is currently pursuing her Masters of Business Administration at the McCallum Graduate School of Business at Bentley University. Marina developed a passion for skiing at an early age, originally learning to ski at Suicide Six in Pomfret, VT, and originally skied competitively at Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, MA. Marina went on to ski for Waterville Valley and Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire and ended her racing career at Holderness School in Plymouth, NH. Currently, Marina lives in Boston and enjoys skiing every season at Killington Mountain, VT.

Barbara Schneider

Barbara Schneider graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School and came to Maine to clerk for a judge before she joined the firm of Murray Plumb & Murray, where her practice centered on civil litigation, mediation and arbitration, with an emphasis on commercial, construction, and business disputes. Barbara has worked in non-profit administration, including an organization that presented continuing education programs for nurse practitioners and has been on the Board of Directors of the Cleaves Law Library, an Adjunct Professor at the University of Maine’s School of Law, and the President of the Cedars Nursing Home Auxiliary. She also served as the Executive Director of Maine Adaptive Sports & Recreation, a non-profit offering adaptive sports and recreational programming to people with disabilities. Furthermore, Barbara has been an Advisor to young women at Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School as part of the Olympia Snowe Women’s Leadership Institute. Barbara currently lives in Bethel, Maine, and is a coach for the Gould Academy Competition Program, as well as an active participant in U.S. Ski and Snowboard coaches education.

Our Founders

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Stuart Abelson

Krista Crabtree

Jennifer Bott

Julia Ford

Marina Pappas

Barbara Schneider

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Our Founders

Stuart Abelson

Krista Crabtree

Jennifer Bott

Julia Ford

Marina Pappas

Barbara Schneider

Better & Faster Together