Mission, STI - Sole Technology Institute

Job Title

Full-time consultant for the Sole Technology Institute.

Hometown

Brentwood, New Hampshire.

Education

B.A. in Zoology, California State University at Humboldt 1970. M.A. in Biology, California State University at Humboldt 1973. Ph.D. in Zoology, Northern Arizona University 1977.

Background

I first started working as a consultant for Nike in 1978 when I was a professor at the University of Tennessee. In 1980, I was part of a group that started a lab in Exeter, New Hampshire for Nike, which was their first research and advanced products lab. I was the Director of Research and Development of Nike until 1987. Since 1987, I've worked for 27 different brands in the sports footwear and sports equipment industries. Most of that effort, however, was for half-a dozen brands including Nike, Adidas, Lotto, Asolo, Converse, Fila, etc.

Job description

Consulting with STI on R&D, research and advanced projects. In general, I do a lot of research and development consulting for STI. The simplest way to say it is that I just help STI bring new products to market, which can involve anything from trying to come up with a new product concept, to testing the concept to see if it works, all the way through to production. It's all about putting new, innovative products on the market, and it all begins with research.

What do you hope to accomplish with STI in the future?

Help STI to create major new technologies and to enhance its leadership position as THE major player in research and technology in the action sports industry. We also want to end up 10 years down the road being able to say that we saved a lot of kids from injury. That's what this is all about--giving back to skateboarding by reducing injuries. At the same time, I think we'd also like to be able to say that a skater could now do a huge new trick because we provided enough protection for the feet and ankles to allow him or her to taunt gravity in that way. So, it's a combination of doing something to allow people to innovate and accomplish more in skateboarding and to protect them at the same time--that's the bottom line.

What do you like about working at the Sole Technology Institute?

It's funny. I worked at Nike back in the day. In the 1970s in particular--and even into the early 1980s--working at Nike was just a hoot. It was really fun. I see the same thing here at Sole Technology now. It's because so many people that work here are into action sports and are devoted to it and the lifestyle that goes along with it. So, for me, it's the thrill of being lucky enough to be involved with something really exciting like this again in my life. To me, that's the thrill of it. There's this mission everyone here is on, and it's great to be able to be involved in that–just to be around it. Personally, that's the thing that gets me. I won’t lie, though, the all-expenses-paid travel to Southern California a couple of times a year when we are having crappy weather in New Hampshire is nice.

Do you participate in any action sports?

Mountain biking and target shooting (seldom at the same time). Okay, these are not traditionally listed as “action sports,” but who’s going to argue this point, eh?