Paradox Sports, an organization created to integrate the physically disabled into the outdoor community, announced a restructuring of their operations and board of directors in order to better accomplish their mission of helping people with disabilities integrate with the outdoor community.
Malcolm Daly will serve as the Executive Director. Daly is the founder of Great Trango Holdings, Inc. a supplier of innovative climbing equipment (Trango) and women's activewear (Stonewear Designs). Starting the company from scratch in 1991 Daly built it into a multi-million dollar company doing business in 17 countries. During that time he helped start two non-profits in the climbing world: the Access Fund, dedicated to retaining access to climbing resources and the Action Committee for Eldorado, a climber's advocacy and liaison group specific to Eldorado Canyon State Park. Daly was an active board member of the Access Fund for thirteen years. In 1999 Daly was attempting to climb a new route on Thunder Mountain in the Alaska Range when he fell, severely injuring both his legs and getting stranded on an icy ledge, alone, in sub-zero temperatures for 48 hours. By the time he was plucked off the mountain by a helicopter, both of his feet were frostbitten and one eventually had to be amputated.
“While I was sitting up on that ledge with my feet freezing, it was images of disabled athletes who were fully engaged in the sporting world that kept me going. Without those images I don't know if I would have made it through those 48 hours,” said Daly. “Now it's my turn. If I can help somebody get over that hump; if I can set an example or provide an opportunity that will help them fully integrate back into a great life, then I'll feel like I've accomplished something.”
Daly recently left GTHI in order to dedicate all of his efforts to further the mission of Paradox Sports.
The new Board of Directors consists of Michelle Barnes, Geoff O'Keeffe, Mitsu Iwasaki and Charlie Schaul.
Michelle Barnes is a Principal at Interim Leadership Solutions and works with not for profits and small businesses delivering impactful interim assignments. Her love for the outdoors has given her the opportunity to work with organizations that focus on getting people active. Michelle has held leadership positions at Outward Bound, Outdoor Industry Association, and Tandem Computers just to name a few. Holding an MBA from UCLA and a BA from William and Mary, Michelle has held many nonprofit board positions and is thrilled to be volunteering with Paradox Sports.
Geoff O'Keeffe has spent his entire adult life working in the outdoor industry, waiting to grow up and get a real job. He has held four President positions, numerous VP and executive roles, served on four non-profit boards of directors, and operated in start-ups and mature businesses in retail, branded wholesale, internet pure play and service organizations. His alma maters include Adventure-16, Patagonia, Lowe Alpine Systems, Mountainsmith, Planetoutdoors.com, Granite Stairway Mountaineering, Black Ice, Kelty, Sierra Designs, Royal Robbins and a host of other branded businesses. He prefers his avocations of writing, photography, music, travel, language, food, history and political rabble-rousing. Geoff lives with his wife Sandy on five precipitous, forest-fire-prone acres at 7,000 feet in the eastern slopes of the Rocky Mountains where his family has resided for 130 years.
Charlie Schaul is an avid backpacker, flycaster and skier for more than 50 years, and has hiked, fished and skied across most of the western US. He when not in the forest he has been a business owner, corporate executive and business consultant. In past lives he was a company commander in the US Army, Registered Professional Engineer, Certified Management Consultant, business columnist, and worked in the outdoor industry at the retail level. His consulting focus, for more than 30 years, has been business strategy and corporate finance. He continues to consultant with small companies in and around Boulder, CO.
Mitsu Iwasaki is the Director of Operations and Safety at Big City Mountaineers. With 15 years of experience managing and directing outdoor-based programs, he brings a wealth of program and operations experience to Paradox Sports. Principally working with non-profits (both large and small), he has focused-on and helped improve program impact, safety and risk management, and efficiency for a number of organizations. He feels exceptionally fortunate to have created opportunities to combine his passion for being active outdoors with his professional career and regularly speaks at national conferences for educators and risk managers. He holds a BA in Environmental Engineering and a master in non-profit management.
The organization will be based in Boulder, Colorado.
