GoRuck is reporting that one of the most influential street skateboarders of all time, a frontman for a punk rock band and a Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee has joined the company as chief brand officer (CBO).
Mike Vallely reportedly brings four decades as a professional athlete, musician, and entrepreneur to a company founded on a single stubborn idea: that carrying weight makes you stronger.
“I’ve never been bored, because I’ve always lived the life I wanted. Every part of my life, from skating and music to building brands, has been about pursuing my passions, and rucking is no different,” Vallely shared. “My passion for rucking has led me to GoRuck. This is where I see my reflection. This is where I want to be, what I choose to do, and where I believe I belong.”
The company said his path to GoRuck encompasses a long friendship with co-founder and CEO Jason McCarthy, a former Green Beret who started GoRuck in 2008. The two came to know each other as independent entrepreneurs, McCarthy building GoRuck and Vallely running his own skateboard company, Street Plant, for roughly a decade. After Vallely finished his first GoRuck Challenge in 2011, the friendship reportedly deepened around a shared worldview and a belief in doing hard things on foot.
As CBO, Vallely will serve as a storyteller and voice for the brand, joining co-founders Jason and Emily McCarthy in representing GoRuck to its community and the wider public.
“Mike V has led a unique life on his own terms, and I respect the hell out of that. We met on a brutal overnight 14-hour GoRuck Challenge over 15 years ago. He was gritty and a great teammate who loved to embrace the suck, and nothing has changed about him since — which is both rare and motivating,” said Jason McCarthy. “His passion and energy are infectious and we’re thrilled for him to join our team as chief brand officer, a guardian of the soul of who we are and how we build and grow communities of ruckers all over the world, one step at a time.”
Years prior to joining the company, Vallely was said to be a GoRuck figure in everything but name.
“Fronting the punk band Black Flag kept him on the road for years, and wherever he landed, he found his way outdoors, carrying weight through city streets or into mountains and canyons any chance he could get,” the company said in a media release. “It was an appointment with himself, a way to stay balanced, clear and honest, and he was doing it long before he had a word for it or a brand to call home.”
Founded in 2008 by former Green Beret, Jason McCarthy, and his wife, CIA field agent Emily McCarthy, GoRuck is headquartered in Jacksonville Beach, Florida.
Images courtesy GoRuck
