Arbor Reorganizes and Recapitalizes

After years of operating under a licensing structure, Arbor will be bringing its snowboarding program back in-house. The goal is to better connect with the brand’s founding, while strengthening the business through an integrated structure that brings the ownership and operation back together.

To fund the management team’s plans for this exciting new chapter, Arbor’s founder, Bob Carlson, has merged the company with Mas Alpha Securities, converting a large portion of his stock into the combined business. Mas Alpha Securities, led by Jose Mas Jr., is a privately held investment firm backed by members of the Mas family and a close circle of partners and friends, many of whom are lifelong snowboarders. The transaction keeps Arbor private, with Carlson in place as the president and a key member of the ownership group.

Mas Alpha Securities is spearheaded by the next generation of the Mas family, who draw on deep family ties and decades of shared experience. As such, the firm brings next-level branding, operational, financial, sports, and athlete marketing expertise to Arbor. The Mas family are owners of Inter Miami CF, the 2025 Major League Soccer (MLS) Cup champions, and have spent generations building MasTec, a leader in clean energy, EV, civil, and communications infrastructure.

“A few years back we set out to prepare Arbor for a changing industry. We strengthened the management team, bolstered the athlete roster, and began the process of refining and broadening our product offering. Today we have completed the transformation by significantly strengthening the ownership of the business, while keeping it grounded in our founding,” said Carlson.

The merger comes on the heels of Mas Alpha Securities’ acquisition in May of Meadowlark Lodge in Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest. The firm is transforming this hidden gem, including the snowboard and ski resort and surrounding property, into a unique all-season base camp for exploring the national forest.

There are multiple synergies between Arbor and Meadowlark. Both share the goal of delivering improved access to the outdoors and a higher-quality experience for their community. They also plan to help address the affordability concerns being felt by active participants and potential customers across the industry. Meadowlark will become Arbor’s research and development lab, official test center, and an important content creation hub. The two businesses will also combine key back-end operations and a range of content and sponsorship efforts, creating a highly collaborative, first-of-its-kind partnership.

“We aren’t building this for the next five years,” said Mas. “We are building it for the next 50. We want Arbor and Meadowlark to become agents of change in the outdoor world. We want our team, our guests, and our communities to feel the passion behind what we are creating. We are just getting started.”

Arbor’s snowboarding product license with Kent Outdoors will end January 31, 2027, at which time the day-to-day operation will transfer back to Arbor. Arbor would like to thank Kent Outdoors for 12 years of partnership and friendship, under which Arbor saw expanded brand awareness and market penetration.