We are super delighted to welcome to the Board Michael Capiraso, former CEO of New York Road Runners the organisers of the New York Marathon.
"The moment I saw the JoggingBuddy platform I realised that this was a project worth supporting. Tony and the team are driven and single minded about promoting jogging, running and walking with a unique buddy support network that helps the global community get healthy and fit."
Michael Capiraso is a visionary, transformational leader whose results-driven focus and holistic team-building have delivered sustainable growth across sports, entertainment, and consumer goods brands. A dynamic and strategic executive, Michael led large-scale operational and brand building efforts at the NFL, Major League Baseball, Calvin Klein, Cole Haan, and WPP before ascending to his role as President & CEO of New York Road Runners (NYRR), organizers of the NYC Marathon.
Throughout his career, Michael has delivered impressive results through organic growth, acquisition and innovative marketing and technology, enhancing culture with forward-thinking programs and driving results via highly collaborative and diverse leadership teams.
During Michael’s tenure at NYRR, the organization’s annual revenue nearly doubled to over $100,000,000; reserves/endowment grew by 100% to $70 million: the number of participants in NYRR events, youth and community programming doubled to approximately 700,000. Michael was integral in establishing multi-year ($100M) partnerships with TCS and New Balance; developed the partnership with Trust for Public Land in NYC building playgrounds in schools in underserved communities; opened the NYRR Run Center; planned and implemented NYRR profitable virtual racing platform; and he played a vital role in the new office and warehouse facilities to accommodate the organizational growth.
As President & CEO as well as Board member, he built a high-performing team and drove the professionalization of NYRR staff and operations resulting in the expansion and diversification of revenue streams. He initiated a comprehensive strategy and planning division and delivered expense reductions and company-wide efficiencies to offset significant infrastructure expensive increases. Under Michael’s leadership, NYRR solidified its position as the world’s largest Marathon (53,000 finishers, globally broadcast to 700 million HH, $40 million charity raised annually, $415 million in annual Economic Impact for NYC) and America’s premier participatory sports organization, with the highest revenue, membership and industry accolades. Michael established a mission-driven vision for the organization, focused on serving the running community. Michael embodies that mission himself, participating in 28 consecutive New York City Marathons while raising more than $100,000 for NYRR Team for Kids charity.
Tony Piedade, Founder and CEO of www.Joggingbuddy.com said "I am delighted to have Michael join the team. He brings a wealth of experience and vision that I hope will keep us firmly focused on helping millions around the world buddy-up and stay fit."
Before joining NYRR, Michael led marketing, strategy, digital, creative and brand development efforts for Cole Haan as the company’s Chief Marketing Officer. Michael and his team developed a five-year multi-channel growth plan to double revenue that built upon synergies with Cole Haan’s parent company Nike and a robust crowd-sourced community engagement effort, including the brand’s collaboration with Nike endorser Maria Sharapova.
He also held leadership positions at Major League Baseball, and Calvin Klein, where he worked directly with Mr. Klein on groundbreaking advertising campaigns and product launches.
Michael has a proven track of building dynamic management teams, setting the vision and strategy and delivering record growth.