Bill is the founder of MyClimb, an app that brings climbers together.

Bill has been climbing since he was five years old and he says that he was lucky to have his first climbing experiences in the beautiful setting of Joshua Tree, California, where he still enjoys visiting every year.

Laura oversees the CWA’s Industry Research Program, including the annual indoor climbing industry study.

Steve is 32, he graduated from the most prestigious french university and started his career as a consultant for the French Football Federation and the IOC. Steve has been climbing for 10 years and deciding to create Arkose in 2013 to fill the lack of climbing gyms in Paris at the time.

Chris Locrasto is an owner and Routesetting Director of Summit Climbing Yoga and Fitness, and CEO of Premium Holds.

Patrick Andrey is business developer of Camp5 Climbing Gym and Managing Director of SMA, representing Walltopia in the Asia Pacific Region.

Greg is a 42 years old climber, he has been climbing for over 25 years and knows quite well the climbing scene.

Michael Schöpf, 38 years old, from Tyrol (Austria) was active as a cross-country skiing youth coach in the Tyrolean Ski Federation and graduated as Master of social and economic science at the University in Innsbruck before he was joining the Austrian Climbing Federation in 2008 as Sports Manager.

Lyn is currently the general manager of Touchstone Climbing’s busiest gym, Berkeley Ironworks, but has been at the helm of a total of four Touchstone gyms in her sixteen years in the industry.

Laurent is a routesetter and hold maker with more than 30 years of experience. He is one of the first international setters and his craft is widely recognized and cherished by the world’s climbing community.

Passionate about climbing and retail expert with more than 18 years’ experience in high volume and growing businesses. She has joined the climbing industry as a Expansion director for Indoorwall Climbing Centers, company with 10 centers and 3 new openings in 2019.

Started with first fitness gym in 1983. Sold 5 gyms in 1998 with 26.000 members. Gross revenue increased in the 15 years from SEK 700.000 to 70.000.000.

Andy designed and built Mile End Climbing Wall – the first dedicated climbing facility in the UK – in 1986. A former Chair of the Association of British Climbing walls, Andy helped create the National Indoor Climbing Award Scheme (NICAS).

David is a fitness industry entrepreneur with an international footprint and 30 years’ experience. He is founder and Director of the successful and unique Leisure Database Company which audits and reports on the industry.

Doug Miller co-founded Sales Makers in 1980 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Doug moved to Europe; in 1994, to introduce the Sales Makers approach and has worked with over 900 Clubs throughout the world, in total.

Dave has been climbing obsessed for over 20 years since starting to climb in his local Granite quarry in Dublin. Dave has experience of working in many different climbing facilities and in various capacities: instructor, outdoor leader, route setter, coach, trainer,  duty manager and now director and wall owner.

Robin has been climbing for over 25 years and been working full time with climbing the last 15 years, as a route setter, instructor and educator but also dedicated to create a learning organisation in safety aspects as part of the Swedish Climbing Federation.

Cody Roth, originally from Albuquerque, New Mexico, has been climbing since the age of 10. He now resides in South Tyrol, Italy, home to Vertical-Life and world class climbing.

Peter Pircher has been working as a Sales Manager for Vertical-Life since 2016. Among other things he is responsible for the distribution of software solutions for climbing gyms.

Ivaylo Penchev is a serial entrepreneur. He has founded and is actively involved in a number of companies – Walltopia, AFCM, Auxionize,  Extrapack, HRT, CompositeX.

Lance Brock grew up in middle TN and went to the University of Tennessee and studied architecture. He practiced architecture for about 7 years before deciding to open Climb Nashville.  He was a sponsored climber for about 10 years and served on the board of directors for the Access Fund.

Rich Emerson is CEO of The Climbing Academy Group Ltd and Chair of the Association of British Climbing Walls.

Lillian Chao-Quinlan is the President and principal owner of Sportrock Climbing Centers, one of the first commercial indoor rock climbing gyms in the USA. During her tenure, Lillian has managed three expansions within their facilities.

Bozhidar Oreshkov is the head R&D scientist of Climbmat. He has a PhD in the field of Physics.

Irina has been focused on investments and growth partnerships within the Walltopia group since 2012.

Nate McMullan is the Founder and Chairman of the Route Setting Association, which oversees qualifications and standards of safety for Route Setting.

Peter is a seasoned routesetter with almost 20 years of experience in the field. He has established himself as a specialist in commercial routesetting and is well-known for his expertise in safety procedures. Peter is the head of routesetting training for the German Alpine Club (DAV), where he trains and educates routesetters on best practices. In addition to his role as a trainer, Peter also manages two climbing gyms and is responsible for routesetting in four gyms, with a total climbing surface of 16,000 square meters.

Hilary Harris is the founder and co-owner of EVO Rock + Fitness. She oversees the strategic business and brand development for EVO as well as oversees the marketing and events at the Louisville location.

Daniel French is founder and Executive Director of Composite-X – the World’s largest climbing holds producer.

Jeffery Bowling is a seasoned professional with almost 30 years of experience in the climbing industry. He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and is currently serving as the Marketing, IT, and Business Development Manager at Touchstone Climbing and Fitness – a leading indoor rock climbing company known for its size and reach globally. As part of the senior management team and an owner, Jeffery plays a crucial role in driving the success and growth of the company.

Peter Pircher has been working as a Sales Manager for Vertical-Life since 2016. Among other things he is responsible for the distribution of software solutions for climbing gyms.

Ivaylo Penchev is a serial entrepreneur. He has founded and is actively involved in a number of companies – Walltopia, AFCM, Auxionize,  Extrapack, HRT, CompositeX.

Adam Koberna is the President of Walltopia USA. With a over 20+ years experience in the climbing wall industry, Adam has helped guide gym owners through the climbing wall construction process to make their vision a reality.

Bozhidar Oreshkov is the head R&D scientist of Climbmat. He has a PhD in the field of Physics.

Irina has been focused on investments and growth partnerships within the Walltopia group since 2012.

Nate McMullan is the Founder and Chairman of the Route Setting Association, which oversees qualifications and standards of safety for Route Setting.

Peter is a seasoned routesetter with almost 20 years of experience in the field. He has established himself as a specialist in commercial routesetting and is well-known for his expertise in safety procedures. Peter is the head of routesetting training for the German Alpine Club (DAV), where he trains and educates routesetters on best practices. In addition to his role as a trainer, Peter also manages two climbing gyms and is responsible for routesetting in four gyms, with a total climbing surface of 16,000 square meters.

Christian is one of the founders of the new “Bahnhof Blo – Bouldercafé”  boulder gym in Wuppertal, Germany and as part of his role as CEO at Climb-Inn also the Managing Director of the DAV Climbing Centre, the Wupperwände.

Chris is the Operations Director for the rapidly expanding Momentum Indoor Climbing. Starting at the front desk in 2011, he has worked almost every position in the gym and strives to improve operations from the ground up while focusing on the customer experience.

Joe Zentmyer is co-founder and CFO of Chicago-based First Ascent Climbing & Fitness, one of the fastest-growing gym operators in the United States.   First Ascent has opened 4 locations since starting operations 3 years ago and has more in development.

Andre has been leading a part of Bänfer since 1986. He is not only the inventor of the patented fall protection system, but also a member of the German DIN committee for artifical climbing structures.

Jeremy set up The Lakeland Climbing Centre in 1995 and became one of the 4 partners in The Yorkshire Climbing Company in 2014.  Together, the two companies own and operate the Kendal Wall, VauxWall West and East, HarroWall, the Depot Leeds, Manchester and Birmingham.  They have a further 3 projects currently under development and are the largest owner and operator of climbing walls in the UK. 

Christoph has been actively climbing since 1983. For the past 20 years he has been consulting climbing gym owners and has designed over 40 000 sq.m (430 000 sq. ft) of climbing surface for walls of various purpose throughout the years.

Vasil Sharlanov is specialized in the design and architecture of all sorts of climbing facilities, as well as family entertainment centers (FECs). 

Dimitar Petrov has been with the Walltopia Group for over 13 years. Currently, he is R&D Manager of Safety Engineering, where he is responsible for the development and manufacturing of new products related to climbing safety.

Andrea has been a part of the Bänfer Bouldering team for more than 8 years. She is a trained vendor in sports articles. Together with Andre Friderritzi, she supervises the clients in Germany and worldwide and is his support. 

Sebastian is a Managing Director in one of the fastest growing REITs in USA STORE Capital. He joined their team in 2016 working with real estate brokers nationwide to source acquisitions that meet STORE Capital’s investment criteria.

Dimitar Georgiev is CEO of Gym Realm Technology JSC, and has more than 10 years of experience in the IT sector. The company develops a Gym Management software that is specialized in helping fitness and climbing gym operations.

Matthias Polig is co-founder and CEO of Vertical-Life, national route setter, guidebook author, climbing event manager with a passion for innovation and technology.

Boriana has been with Walltopia for over 12 years. She started as an engineer and quickly worked her way up to becoming the Engineering department’s head, and the developer of most of Walltopia’s Active Entertainment products.

Jack is a Business Development Manager at Portman Asset Finance; a UK based financial services firm providing funding solutions from £10,000 to £2million+. Prior to joining Portman Finance in 2017, Jack received a degree in Business Economics from the University of Portsmouth before gaining a multitude of experience from a FinTech start up in London to a global technology company.

Evgeny Angelov is Chairman of the Bulgarian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association. In parallel, he is Partner at PostScriptum Ventures. Previously, Evgeny was the Economic Advisor to the President of Bulgaria and the Deputy Minister of Economy. His focus in the public sector has been on economic, investment and innovation policy formulation and implementation.

Alan is Director of the Climbing Academy. He has been climbing indoors and out from a very young age, and a routesetter for many years before becoming involved with The Climbing Academy group’s second gym in Glasgow.

Hilary Harris is the founder and co-owner of EVO Rock + Fitness. She oversees the strategic business and brand development for EVO as well as oversees the marketing and events at the Louisville location.

Lucas Kovalcik co-founded The Gravity Vault Indoor Rock Gyms in 2005. The Gravity Vault now owns, operates and franchises climbing facilities throughout the Northeastern United States.

Routesetting for twenty years, Ward is currently the Director of Routesetting for Earth Treks Climbing & Fitness.  He oversees all routesetting operations at their five soon to be seven locations.

Joe is the owner of Hoosier Heights Indianapolis, Hoosier Heights Bloomington, Climb NuLu, and Climb Cincy. Joe’s experience as both a sole owner and partner in small, mid, and large sized markets has given him insight into the successes and challenges facing the climbing industry going forward.

Alexander has been at the helm of Urban Climb, one of Australia’s largest indoor climbing companies for the last 10 years, in that time he has been a part of the exciting growth witnessed in the climbing industry.

Tonde Katiyo is an international route setter and an international personality in general. Born in Paris, he moved to Zimbabwe where he started climbing at the age of 12.

Frank Blaeser is owner and CEO of Kletterfabrik Cologne. He has been a climber for about 35 years.

Currently the VP of Retail and Brand working with both the Marketing and Retail departments for Earth Treks | Planet Granite.

Daniel French is founder and Executive Director of Composite-X – the World’s largest climbing holds producer.

• Business Unit Director-Climbing Sales at Black Diamond

Killko Caballero is a serial-entrepreneur, having spent over 20 years launching, and working with, several technology startups in Silicon Valley. Upon his return to Europe, Killko decided to combine his passion for climbing and startups, and co-founded TOTEM Climbing in 2016, a chain of bouldering gyms which now counts four locations in Switzerland.

Gregor is a sports scientist, and Owner and CEO of Kletterfabrik Köln. He has been a climber for almost 40 years, and has participated in WC 1990, EC 1991, and Rockmaster 1992 and 1995.

Jeffery Bowling is a seasoned professional with almost 30 years of experience in the climbing industry. He holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy and is currently serving as the Marketing, IT, and Business Development Manager at Touchstone Climbing and Fitness – a leading indoor rock climbing company known for its size and reach globally. As part of the senior management team and an owner, Jeffery plays a crucial role in driving the success and growth of the company.

Jason Kehl is a renowned American professional rock climber who has earned recognition for his exceptional highball bouldering skills, artistic contributions to the climbing community, and expertise in hold shaping. In 2006, he received the prestigious Everest Award for his outstanding achievements in climbing. Jason is also a trailblazer, becoming the first climber to successfully boulder a 5.14d graded route “The Fly” at Rumney, New Hampshire. With a passion for climbing and travel, Jason has lived a nomadic lifestyle for over a decade, residing in his van to pursue his climbing adventures.

His quest for the perfect line has led him on a path that intertwines climbing and art so they are one and the same. Jason shares his vision with the climbing industry as So iLL Holds head shaper, and Earth Treks Climbing Center’s head wall designer.

Dr. Matt Roberts is founder of The Kernmantle Group, an economics research and training consultancy and acting President of Vertical Adventures, a rock-climbing gym in Columbus, OH. 

In 1982, Jeff and a college roommate taught themselves to climb in Rock Canyon in Provo after purchasing a copy of Royal Robbins’ Basic Rockcraft to guide them.