Search For The Ultimate Athlete

EXECUTIVE TEAM

Yves Garceau SFUA Founder & CEO Yves has spent the last 35 years exploring the world of sports and the outdoors. His experience ranges from sports marketing, event management, sports television production and sales. Yves’ background as an athlete includes tennis professional, personal trainer, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing and windsurfing. Search For the Ultimate Athlete represents the culmination of his passion for sports and the fruit of his determination to find the best athlete.

Mark Taylor VP & Event Consultant Mark Taylor is a 20 year veteran of the event marketing business who brings an exceptional background from producing over 200 major events. The combination of Mark’s strong entrepreneurial background from founding MASEV Communications and his current Interplay Marketing & Consulting along with his executive experience as a VP at IMG, Mark is an integral part of SFUA. Mark’s successful track record includes managing the many complex layers of event organization and rights management combined with expertise in media production, particularly television and new media on a global scale.

Ian Hamilton: The Commish Ian Hamilton has served up a portfolio full of aces during his impressive career in sports marketing. Hamilton served as Global Director of Tennis Sports Marketing for Nike, Inc. for 17 years during which time he was responsible for creating more than one billion dollars in product sales, as well as signing and promoting a roster of high-profile Nike luminaries such as John McEnroe, Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Mary Pierce. Ian continued his success and proved his versatility when he later assumed the challenging role of Commissioner of the Professional Bowlers Association. He has founded his own sports marketing firm, the Hamilton Group and aligned it with the full service branding agency known as nonbox. Together, nonbox Hamilton Sports Group offers its clients sports sponsorship strategies, endorsement packages, television negotiation and events, league branding and promotions, sports event creation and production, and athlete endorsements. I’m no longer active as a professional athlete, he says, but I share the same credo with today’s superstars in sports as well as business: “Always under promise and over deliver results!”

Dean Porter CFO/COO Dean has over 20 years of Fortune 500 company leadership experience in operations, finance, and planning. From a CPA position at Coopers & Lybrand, Dean moved into a long and fruitful role with Nike. In his career there, Dean led many aspects of Nike’s complex apparel supply chain and financial operations. It was during his tenure as part of the NIKE Apparel’s senior management team that apparel sales grew over 100% per year. Most recently, Dean was CFO at an apparel start-up in Portland, Nau. Nau became nationally recognized for breaking paradigms across the multiple dimensions of fashion-forward sustainable outdoor/lifestyle apparel, blurring the lines between web and traditional retail, and customer directed philanthropy. Dean has 2 teenage children and is an avid outdoor sports participant.

Brandon Ontiveros Operation & Activation Associate A proven professional in sports marketing, event management, sponsorship and contract activations, corporate level sales and branding development. Successful track record of being a positive team leader/motivator, strategic planner and creative implementer. Previous positions were held with Outward Bound West, Mountain Sports International, Gorge Games, Coors Brewing Company, River City Bicycles, Group O Companies and founder of The Hood River Super D mountain bike series and Raining Images Northwest; a landscape photography company. As a multi-sport athlete and entrepreneur, Brandon’s core passions in life revolve around outdoor athletic pursuits and designing new business concepts in the outdoor/action sports industry.

Alex Williams Online Community Manager A professional community manager and social media producer, Alex manages blog networks, produces social media campaigns and teaches about communications strategies and tactics using social media technologies. Alex has worked as a community manager for Iterasi and SplashCast, two startups based in Portland, Oregon. He is the founder of the Podcast Hotel, an event that explores the intersection of art and commerce and the affect digital media has on independent culture. Alex has a background in traditional marketing. He worked in corporate public relations for Mentor Graphics and as director of marketing for a technology company based out of Corvallis, Oregon He spent the first seven years of his career as a journalist for daily newspapers, magazines and as television business anchor. Alex has two teenage children. He lives in Portland, Oregon with his wife Judy, two cats and six chickens.

Kevin Fox Online Community Developer Kevin brings an extensive knowledge of community and on line brand development to SFUA. His focus is online PR and fostering interest and excitement for Search For the Ultimate Athlete. Kevin has worked in sales and marketing for several years, specializing in the use of on line technology to grow brands. Building a vibrant community around successful brands, athletes, fans and SFUA is his objective. Kevin graduated from the College of Business at OSU, with a Masters of Business Administration and also a Bachelors of Computer Science from OSU. He will be helping to manage the interns and promote the SFUA blog throughout the Internet.

Della Rae Shanley Corporate Liaison-Hospitality Manager Della has 20 years of experience building relationships. Her background includes repeated success in, event management, corporate program development, human resource management, administrative and organizational supervision and a high commitment to excellence. Della’s overall passion for her work produces results. Although a multi sport athlete: tennis player, dance professional, track & field coach, personal trainer, water and snow skier Della makes her first priorities family and relationships.

Ron Menconi Sponsorship-Sales-Partnership Marketing Ron spent over 20 years with Joe’s Sports and Outdoor Stores as VP of Marketing & Merchandising. He now works as a consultant in the sporting goods industry. Ron serves as a board member at Oregon Sports Authority, Charter president of the Oregon Ski Industry ASSN and is a former board member and chairman of the National Sporting Goods ASSN. His position with SFUA includes sporting good industry sponsorship, relationships and cross-marketing opportunities.

Colin Fahey Project venues-Execution Colin is a native Oregonian, living in Portland. A graduate of Lakeridge High School and Pomona College in Claremont, CA with a BA in Psychology in 2006, Colin played college football, basketball and lacrosse. He interned with the Oregon Sports Authority in both 2004 and 2009, working on projects like the Dew Action Sports Tour and NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. From 2006-2009, Colin spent 2 1/2 years doing mobile marketing and event execution for Portland’s Q Productions, while representing brands/clients such as Nike, SPARQ, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Modell’s. Colin is a well-rounded individual who truly connects with people. He looks forward to the launch of SFUA.

Kathy Long Holland Business Development & Financial Advisor An MA in Anthropology from the University of Nebraska, MBA from the University of Oregon with concentrations in Finance and Marketing, Kathy specializes in the development and launching of new products and strategies. She spent 7 years at Nike as the Divisional Head of New Products and Markets. Kathy manages her own advisory firm, LongSherpa Design, focusing on new businesses and business transitions. She is an expert in entrepreneurship and has lectured at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Ms. Long Holland serves on numerous Boards of Directors, both for profit and non-profit organizations.

	Ben Sieber Property Development Ben brings a broad range of experience to the SFUA project. A multi-sport athlete, classroom teacher, artist, craftsman, manager, and father, Ben’s background includes extensive experience with staff management and customer service, as well as child development, education, team sports and coaching. As a teacher and parent, Ben is particularly interested in the development of youth and community outreach programs in association with SFUA, in the potential for SFUA to become an agent for positive social change through sports.

Kevin Delaney
Former snowboard world champion, multi sport athlete & sports TV personality

Dean Karnazes
Ultra Marathon Man, multi sport athlete & TIME’s top 100 most influential people in 2006

Joe Decker
“World’s Fittest Man” competition winner, trainer & TV personality

Dr. Britta Torgrimson
Ph.D. Human Physiology & multi sport athlete (Portland, OR)

Darcy Winslow
Sustainability consultant, was 20 years at Nike, MS in exercise physiology & biomechanics & athlete performance

Kevin Carroll
Philadelphia 76ers former trainer, “katalist” at Nike, author, speaker & social changes agent

Dr. Mario Lafortune
BSc, MSc, PhD, Director of Nike Sport Research Laboratory

Craig Trames
Corragio Group, spent 11 years at Nike, served as CEO of Pacific Crest Outward Bound School

Michelle Emmons
REI Pacific Northwest Outreach & Events Coordinator, athlete

Martin Goebel
President of Sustainable Northwest, member of the Oregon Sustainability Board

Terry Shanley
CEO of S.M.A.R.T. Oregon (Get Smart Oregon), Dir. of Oregon Sports Authority Board

Malea
PDX Intl. Marathon Volunteer Coordinator (17 yrs), designed the P.I.F. fundraising platform, trainer

Marisa McGilliard
Executive Dir. at Council for Responsible Sports, sports for social changes consultant

Kristin Harrer
Wieden Kennedy & Nike brand strategist, sports marketing attorney, ultra-marathon & triathlete

Roy Notowitz
Talent acquisition expertise from Nike and Generator Group with focus in athletic, outdoor, action sports, and snow sports industry sectors.