Citizens of the World

It’s 8 o’clock on Monday morning, and Dave Rockwood backs out of his driveway in Prospector Square and heads to work. But Rockwood isn’t driving across town. He’s on his way to the Salt Lake City International Airport where he will begin his usual 24-hour commute to Bangkok, Thailand. Like an increasing number of Parkites, Rockwood works internationally but chooses to live in Park City.

Rockwood moved to Park City in 1981 to be a ski instructor while he was studying international business and commercial recreation management at BYU and the University of Utah. He then worked as a trade representative for sporting goods and, with his ability to speak, read and write Thai, soon became a liaison between the American companies and their manufacturing facilities in Thailand. As Asian production of American goods increased, so did demand for Rockwood’s expertise.

These days, Rockwood juggles the work of three international companies. Rockwood Trading specializes in sourcing and managing production for the ski, golf and tennis industries; Pacific Rim Consulting deals with international trade issues; and Thai Herbal Research, his latest venture, processes and imports raw materials for the expanding herbal supplement industry. With an international perspective on globalization and economic development, Rockwood also lectures about American competitiveness at several universities and serves as the honorary trade representative for the state of Utah in Thailand.

Traveling more than 200,000 miles a year, Rockwood spends half his time in Asia and half in Park City. He maintains an apartment in Bangkok so he doesn’t have to haul luggage, but “that necessitates having two of everything.” The downside of being gone so much is time away from his family. However, “technology makes a huge difference,” he says. “With video conferencing, I can help the kids with their homework using my cell phone.”

Through the years, Rockwood has developed a great knowledge of his adopted country, a network of government and business contacts and a love of the native people. When the tsunami struck the Thai coastline, he quickly got involved, assembling a Utah forensics team that spent six weeks working with the Thai Department of Justice identifying victims. They conducted DNA testing of more than 1,200 bodies laid out in a temporary morgue on the grounds of a Buddhist temple.

Rockwood’s routine of constant travel has made him appreciate the safety, quality of life, and climate when he comes home. “The beauty and serenity of Park City offset the grueling business of the world.”

To Jean-Yves Lacroix, arriving in Park City in 1989 was like stepping into one of the Western movies he loved as a boy in France. His father, who fabricated racing skis for Head and later developed exclusive Lacroix skis, encouraged his architect son to follow his American dream.

At the suggestion of a friend in the ski business, Lacroix set up an American base in Park City and began working as an architect for local firms. His American-born wife and four children stayed at home in the French Alps where the children were in school. For years, he has commuted from Salt Lake City to Geneva, Switzerland, to take care of two family businesses in his hometown of Bois d’Amont, a tiny French village just over the Swiss border.

Lacroix owns the U.S. trademark for Lacroix skis and is involved in the design and creation of Lacroix’s line of hand-crafted custom skis, while his brother oversees their production in France. Along with two other brothers, he owns a company that designs and manufactures pre-fabricated log chalets — “traditional alpine architecture.” The chalet components arrive by truck to remote mountain locations throughout France and Switzerland and are assembled on site.

Back in Park City, Lacroix has been in business for himself since 1998 designing spectacular, high-tech custom homes that combine “old world culture with new world dynamism.” He enjoys working with clients to develop the perfect home design for their unique lifestyles, and believes that the atmosphere in Park City nurtures creativity and freedom of thought. “It is the best place to perform as an architect,” he says. “Interesting people discover Park City; they do research about where they want to live and find lots of reasons to come here.”

By living and working in Europe and the United States, Lacroix says that he experiences “the best of both worlds.” He feels that being a citizen of two continents and experiencing two different cultures gives him a “broad visual range” that is essential to cutting edge design. But no matter how much he travels, Lacroix always enjoys returning to Utah. “It just looks like the West,” he says, referring to that childhood dream.

Tim Lapage was destined to become a global adventurer. Born in Nakuru, Kenya, near the place that inspired Karen Blixen (whose more familiar pen name is Isak Dinesin) to write “Out of Africa,” he spent his childhood traveling throughout Africa with his parents. While he was attending boarding school in Europe, Lapage developed a passion for skiing during winter holidays spent at alpine resorts. And after completing a business degree in London, Lapage worked as a bush pilot, flying throughout Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and back and forth to Great Britain. In the early 1970s, he began flying for Gulf Air, the national airline for Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Oman and Qatar, and started a marketing business on the side.

It was while he was helping Kenya friends with their safari business in 1979 that Lapage met clients from Salt Lake City who invited him to Utah and first introduced him to Park City. “It was a wonderfully fresh place that I thought was going to grow in the future — a vibrant community with many facets,” he says.“ I loved the general sporting environment.” He bought a Racquet Club condo and started spending more time in Utah.

In 1991, Lapage moved with his family to Park City and created Safari Experts, a company that plans personalized, custom safaris to exotic locales around the world. Lapage’s hectic schedule includes spending three months every year in Africa and a month in South America, Australia and New Zealand scouting ever more remote and interesting travel experiences to astound his clientele.

Lapage says that the contrast between the isolated places he works and his home base in Park City is remarkable. “Here, everything is very organized and accessible; there are no hassles, and the logistics and communications are so good. Park City is very welcoming and a great place to run a small business. And there is such a cosmopolitan, eclectic group of people who are interested and interesting.”

Every year, piloting a plane he keeps in Kenya, Lapage personally conducts a “low level flying safari,” soaring over African waterways, migrations of wild game, and the Great Rift Valley where he spent his childhood. He also keeps a plane at the Heber Valley Airport for outings closer to home. The global ad-venturer never stops exploring.

The tapestry of Park City is richer because of citizens of the world like Rockwood and Lacroix and Lapage. They could live anywhere, but find Park City to be a perfect base camp for their global operations, a safe haven for family life and relaxation, and a stimulating think tank for intellectual refueling. As Lacroix says, “It’s the center of the world!”

Tina Stahlke Lewis is the former director of the State of Utah International Business Development Office.