{"id":25019,"date":"2025-07-21T09:23:07","date_gmt":"2025-07-21T16:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nwac.us\/?p=25019"},"modified":"2025-07-24T12:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T19:26:12","slug":"meet-nwacs-non-profit-team-rusty-rustigian-product-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nwac.us\/2025\/07\/21\/meet-nwacs-non-profit-team-rusty-rustigian-product-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet NWAC\u2019s Non-Profit Team: Rusty Rustigian, Product Manager"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
\n

What brought you to NWAC?<\/strong>

I couldn’t get a job in 2010 when I moved to Seattle so I started volunteering for NWAC. There were only 2 nonprofit staff at the time and they eventually created a position for me. After 5 years I moved to Bozeman, MT and did a number of jobs in both nonprofit and tech. 9 years later, I was helping NWAC solve for a new website initiative which led to my return.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s your role at NWAC, and what does a typical day look like for you?<\/strong>

Product Manager – I manage our mobile app (Avy) and a new collaborative website build between avalanche centers across the country. Basically we’re building a condo complex for avalanche centers rather than building and maintaining our own single-family homes. I spend a lot of time coordinating stakeholders and the design\/build team. There are a lot of decisions to make around which features to prioritize within our small organization budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s one NWAC program or initiative you\u2019ve been especially proud to contribute to?<\/strong>

Currently I’m really proud of all the collaboration and momentum we have behind building these tech products. Rusty x NWAC 1.0: I was really proud of the rebrand we did back in like 2011(?!). The rebrand was followed by a ton of outreach and it felt like we were able to turn NWAC into an organization that people wanted to be a part of.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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What’s your favorite place in the NWAC Fx zones to spend time and what do you love about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s been a minute but the Snoqualmie Pass zone for its hidden gems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s one thing you want every backcountry user to know?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scott Schell told me 10+ years ago when I was a young chucklehead: Persistent Weak Layers are truly so unpredictable and as uncertainty increases, your terrain choice should become equally conservative. That framing really helped me refrain from trying to outsmart the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What excites you most about the future of NWAC and\/or avalanche safety?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Obviously all the tech stuff we’re working on. There’s so much opportunity to streamline not just our forecasting products but all the other content that is redundant center to center. I think it’s the vision and collaboration that particularly lights me up, but the resulting products have so much potential for both the users and the staff behind the scenes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describe a particularly memorable day on snow from this past season.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nowadays it’s just as much about the people, place, and community as it is about sliding on snow. I had a string of visitors in February, and I got to show them some of my favorite spots in some world-class conditions. Sharing that with them and them experiencing why I live where I do felt pretty special.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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