industry & federation work

Having worked in multiple contract and volunteer capacities for USA Climbing for over 15 years, Chris has provided input on nearly all aspects of the National Federation’s operations. Along with significant experience with the competition climbing governing bodies, USAC and the IFSC, we have a long history of work with the Climbing Wall Association.

Joining the USAC Rules Committee in 2011 and Chair through 2019, Chris has worked through the fast-paced evolution of the sport and been instrumental to many changes in organizational structure. Putting together the first official US Open National Team Training Camp, presenting at Coaches Symposiums, cooperating with Athletes, Judges and Collegiate Committees, or working with Youth Regional Coordinators – all these aspects of work we engage with for the better evolution of competition climbing. We’ve also worked with the CWA from the start. In 2007, Chris organized the first routesetting workshops at the inaugural Climbing Wall Summit and helped with organization of the early Summit events in the late 2000’s. He had the honor of giving the Keynote Speech in 2010 and in recent years has also served on the CWA’s Certification Standards Committee.

Internationally, Chris is a representative of the IFSC Routesetting Commission, worked on the IFSC Bouldering Working Group in 2017, and often provides input on rules and other ideas for future developments for the IFSC Sport Department. He served as Secretary General of the Pan American Council from 2016 - 2018 and continues to provide technical expertise to the Council, primarily with the development of Officials and strategy for other sport advancements within the Americas.

Always invested in looking at the long-term, engaging with climbing community stakeholders and thoughtfully looking forward, our approach in working with organizations is to be open-minded and structure oriented. Among first principles that drive Thread is the idea that sports and the business of sports always change over time, and the structures of sport best adapt and grow when being open, communicative, and transparent, while strategically forward-looking. We think it’s important to stay grounded in elements of the spirit of sport, and in the case of climbing, our lifestyle. Personal connections, a global community, appreciation for the outdoors, sharing ideas, creativity, exploration in movement, problem-solving, integrity, and variations of style, all are integral aspects of what we do that we can be built intelligently into organizational structures. The Thread worldview, when applied to working with organizations, is the more we shift gradually, with planned structure and maintaining focus on broad principles, the more efficiently and effectively we evolve.