Strava has confirmed the board appointment of Diahann Billings-Burford, CEO of RISE – a national US non-profit aimed at eliminating racial discrimination, championing social justice and improving race relations.
Strava cites this as a key appointment at a high-momentum moment for the company with its community of over 86 million athletes continuing to grow rapidly, adding two million athletes every month.
‘With that growth comes a renewed focus on ensuring the board is structured with highly skilled and strategic business leaders that will continue to accelerate the growth of its community and further amplify Strava’s position as the largest sports community in the world.’
“Diahann is a proficient community builder who has worked across the private, public and non-profit sectors,” said Michael Horvath, Strava CEO.
“Her abilities and her deep understanding of the importance of seeking out different points of view and aligning them around a common framework and objectives we can all get behind will help accelerate Strava towards fulfilling its mission.
“That mission is directly linked to Strava’s commitment to connecting athletes to what motivates them and helping them find their personal best.”
Diahann Billings-Burford said “I was not only impressed with the vision founder and co-founders Mark Gainey and Michael Horvath outlined, but how open and transparent they were about wanting to address some of the opportunities they felt existed within Strava.
“Being intentional about wanting to build a diverse community of athletes is key to future subscription growth, but in order to unlock that we have to collectively invest more time and energy around building those communities within the current experience.
“Strava is steadfastly committed to building a platform that is truly inclusive and I’m ecstatic to be able to bring my perspective and deep leadership experience to help build this new ecosystem with them. We are just at the beginning of our journey.”
Billings-Burford’s experience spans the non’profit, private and public company sectors. A graduate from Yale University and Columbia School of Law, where she received her J.D., she has held several prominent leadership positions, including serving as the Executive Director of Cultural Investments and Vice President of the Time Warner Foundation at Time Warner.
For a number of years, she was also the Chief Service Officer for the city of New York in the mayor’s office working to help 1.3 million New Yorkers connect to service opportunities more easily, and targeting volunteers to address the city’s needs and promote service.
Strava notes that Billings-Burford and RISE have brought solutions-oriented programming to the sports community during an unprecedented time. She has helped deepen partnerships across more than 35 states and in key regions such as Los Angeles, South Florida and Minneapolis, and she has developed multi-year partnerships at the professional and collegiate levels.
Diahann has also directed RISE to hold more than 650 partner engagements since 2020, including hundreds of workshops across the professional, collegiate and youth sports levels that empower inclusive leaders and create a more equitable and inclusive sports culture.
