12 People You Need to Know in 2016: Luke Snyder

For 13 years, a cowboy hat was a key piece of Luke Snyder’s professional attire.

But since 2014, the champion bull rider and No. 13 all-time highest earner in the Professional Bull Riders Inc. circuit has worn different hats – every day.

As a marketing specialist for Bass Pro Shops and an event coordinator for Big Cedar Lodge, Snyder often pulls double and even triple duty between the company’s Springfield headquarters and the Ridgedale resort, as well as Top of the Rock and Dogwood Canyon.

“It keeps things interesting,” Snyder says. “I went the better part of my adult life without having to have a real job, so if I ever had to sit still for more than a second I think I’d lose it.”

Like the rodeo, the nature of Snyder’s second career means he doesn’t stay put for long. In his first full year on the job, when he hasn’t been serving as a spokesman for the company during Bass Pro’s Legends of Golf tournament or helping out with construction of a treehouse at Dogwood Canyon for Animal Planet’s television show, “Treehouse Masters,” he’s attended 10 store activations to sign autographs and promote the company.

For Snyder, it’s the role he was groomed for during his time on the circuit, where he was not only sponsored by Bass Pro, but also trained to interview on camera as a PBR spokesman.

Despite being out of the saddle, Snyder hasn’t strayed from the sport. In November 2015, he was named to PBR’s five-person executive advisory board by upper management. And since Bass Pro sponsors one of the series’ major events each season, Snyder facilitates the company’s corporate sponsorship relationship with PBR.

While workdays spent at Bass Pro’s Springfield headquarters could mean anything from assisting with advertising design to securing talent for photo shoots, Snyder also is gearing up for the May 2016 public opening of the Outdoor Academy near Big Cedar Lodge.

With one portion of the property designated for shooting sports, nine corporate retreats and private events held at the Outdoor Academy during the fall of 2015 gave Snyder a chance to coordinate events ranging from firework displays to live concerts to 20-bull rodeos featuring trick riders. He said the company drew inspiration for its grandstands – capable of seating between 8,000 and 12,000 people – from other outdoor stadiums, such as the Red Rock Amphitheatre in Denver, and customized it for the Ozarks.

“We’re going to do everything under the sun from concerts to monster trucks to big festivals,” Snyder adds. “You name it, we’re set up to do it.”

And if there’s one thing being in the ring with big bulls and television camera crews taught Snyder, it’s how to put on a show.

“Now, instead of me being the guy who’s entertaining, I’m on the outside looking in,” Snyder says. “Until the last firework goes off or the last song is sung, I’m on point because I want it to go off without a hitch.”