USA Triathlon Foundation has announced that Paul Gompers, a long-time endurance athlete and current Eugene Holman Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, has been named the newest member of the Foundation’s board.
Gompers specializes in research on financial issues related to venture capital and private equity funds as well as start-up, high growth and newly public companies. He completed his PhD in Business Economics at Harvard University in 1993. His course development efforts at the Harvard Business School focus on issues affecting entrepreneurial firms and their investors, sources of financing for emerging companies and private equity funds. Recent research has focused on corporate governance and the effects of corporate governance on firm performance, as well as the institutional and market factors that influence the performance of newly public companies.
Gompers is a co-founder of Spur Capital Partners and is currently on the advisory boards of Gemini Venture Partners, Highland Consumer Fund, Khosla Ventures and OnPoint Technologies. Gompers is a member of the Board of Overseers of Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston, a Harvard-affiliated teaching hospital. He has served as a consultant for many large corporations, top private equity funds, and institutional limited partners, and is also a Research Associate in the National Bureau of Economic Research’s Corporate Finance Program.
A lifelong endurance athlete, Gompers was an All American in cross country and track at Harvard. He set the World Junior Record in the marathon in 1983 (2:15:38) and was an alternate on the 1988 Olympic team. He was also the national champion at 20km in 1989 and represented the US in both track and cross country on multiple occasions. In 2007 Gompers took up triathlon and has competed at a variety of distances. He has twice qualified for the IRONMAN World Championship and has also been a member of Team USA for ITU Age Group World Championships.
“My own experience has taught me the role that sport and triathlon in particular can play in the physical and mental health of an individual,” Gompers said. “The opportunity to help promote triathlon to youth and paratriathletes is a mission about which I feel passionate. I also look forward to the opportunity to help current and future generations of elite athletes pursue their dreams. Serving as a Trustee of the USA Triathlon Foundation allows me to give back to a sport that has helped me in myriad ways.”
In addition to his past accomplishments, Gompers recently competed at the USA Triathlon Age Group National Championships in Milwaukee and will represent Team USA for world championship events in Chicago next month and Cozumel, Mexico, next September. His experience will move the Foundation’s goals forward, helping to enhance opportunities for youth, elite, and paratriathletes.
“We are extremely fortunate to have Paul joining the USA Triathlon Foundation Board,” said Jacqueline McCook, President of the Foundation Board. “Paul brings outstanding business and governance expertise, as well as a long history of athletic accomplishments. We believe Paul is particularly well qualified to help us achieve our vision of a healthier America through triathlon.”
www.usatriathlonfoundation.org
