The people behind the Foundation.

Maureen ("Mo") Beck was born without her left hand but that didn't stop her from picking up the sport of climbing at the age of 12. Now based in Colorado's Front Range, Mo spends her nights training at the gym and her days climbing all over the American southwest. She works closely with the adaptive climbing community as an instructor with Paradox Sports. As a competitive climber, she has won nine national titles and two world titles. In 2018, she went on her first alpine expedition to the Northwest Territories in Canada's Nahanni National Park where she and fellow adaptive climber Jim Ewing attempted the legendary Lotus Flower Tower. Following the expedition, she was named National Geographic's Adventurer of the Year. She now tours with Nat Geo Live, telling her story across the nation. Alongside her busy speaking career, she continues to dominate in the competitive climbing space and is planning her next big outdoor ascent.

Nathaniel Coleman is an Olympic silver medalist in climbing and a four-time U.S. national bouldering champion, climbing out of Salt Lake City, Utah. Known for his unmatched composure and mental fortitude, Nathaniel tackles every problem with calculated confidence and control that has quickly brought him to the top of the competitive bouldering community. Although a competitor at heart, Nathaniel deepens his love of the sport through climbing around the world, from breathtaking Swiss and South African summits to the great granite walls of Little Cottonwood Canyon in his native state. His intimate connection with these natural climbing marvels inspires his passion for sustainability in the sport. Advocating for what he describes as his set of climbing ethics, Nathaniel calls for the conservation of majestic sites such as these to ensure the same climbing experience for generations to come.

The only human to free solo Yosemite's 3,000 foot rock monolith, El Capitan. No rope, climbing alone. More people will walk on the moon than will do what Alex Honnold has done. His extremely rare skill and unmatched mental focus have helped make him climbing's transcendent, breakout star, inspiring millions around the world. Beyond his 2017 history-making ascent of El Cap, dramatically documented in the Oscar-winning film Free Solo, Alex is simply one of the hardest working, certainly most accomplished, and greatest climbers to ever live. His feats have blown the doors wide open on the sport of climbing, placing him at the front of mainstream media like 60 Minutes, The New York Times, and the cover of National Geographic. In 2012, Alex founded the Honnold Foundation, an environmental non-profit that provides grants to organizations advancing solar energy access all over the world.

Meagan Martin is a professional rock climber, ESPN commentator, Host of HBO Max's The Climb, star of American Ninja Warrior, and a former Division I Pole Vaulter at Vanderbilt University who currently lives in Sacramento, California. It was by chance that Meagan found climbing growing up in Lake Mary, Florida back in 2001. Meagan started out in the JCCA, which later would become what USA Climbing is today. Meagan competed for four years nationally and internationally before taking a seven-year hiatus from climbing to focus on pole vaulting. Upon her return to climbing, she jumped right back into the competition scene and traveled all around the world from 2012-2018 competing at USA Climbing and IFSC competitions. In the last two years, Meagan began to shift her focus into the broadcasting realm and is the color commentator for all ESPN and USA Climbing events.

Chris Sharma's preternatural climbing ability and visionary first ascents have earned him an enduring reputation as one of the world's best rock climbers. This American professional athlete, ambassador and entrepreneur from Santa Cruz, California, has been on a global odyssey, now two decades in the making, in search of the planet's most difficult and beautiful rock climbs. Sharma has dedicated years of his life to discovering and climbing singular, aesthetic and seemingly impossible routes, always with his humble, meditative approach and powerful, dynamic style of movement. Today he continues to climb at the world standard, pushing the limits of what is possible and always reimagining the direction of his remarkably storied climbing career.

Brandon Blaser is the founder of BCG Holdings, a real estate investment and development firm based in Salt Lake City, Utah. BCG Holdings focuses on investing in projects that enact economic, sustainable, and social change in the underserved areas of Salt Lake City. Since its founding in 2018, BCG has been involved in over $1 billion of impactful real estate projects across adaptive re-use, industrial and mixed-use developments. Prior to BCG Holdings, Brandon was a partner at Thackeray Partners in Dallas, TX, a national real estate investment firm that completed over $4.5 billion of transactions during his tenure. Brandon is a graduate of Brigham Young University and received an M.B.A. with Honors from Harvard Business School. Brandon and his wife, Liz, and their six kids are excited supporters of USA Climbing.

Kevin Costanza is the Managing Partner at Seed IP Law Group LLP, a 55-attorney intellectual property boutique law firm headquartered in Seattle, Washington. Kevin has been representing individuals and businesses in patent, trademark and copyright matters since 1995 and has been managing the firm since 2015. Kevin and Michele Costanza have been actively involved in USA Climbing since 2007, regularly judging and volunteering at local, regional, divisional and national competitions. Kevin has been a member of the USA Climbing Rules Committee since 2019. Kevin and Michele's daughter Melina has competed in youth, collegiate and elite competitions since 2007; and their son Leo has competed in youth and elite competitions since 2010.

Kate Felsen Di Pietro is the Chief Communications Officer of The Human Potential L.A.B. and President of Up Up Communications, with clients focused on transforming education and supporting healthy youth development. Kate had a distinguished career at ABC News. As Foreign Editor for the flagship evening news broadcast, she covered breaking and feature stories around the globe, winning 11 Emmy Awards. Kate earned an M.A. in American foreign policy and international economics from Johns Hopkins and a B.A., magna cum laude in history and literature from Harvard. She garnered first-team All-American and Ivy League "Player of the Year" honors in lacrosse, captained the field hockey team and enjoys coaching a club lacrosse team for middle school girls in New York City. She also serves as Chair of the Board of Feed the Frontlines NYC.

As president and CEO of Raymond James & Associates, Tash Elwyn supports the financial advisors in the employee Private Client Group. Named president and CEO of RJA in 2018 and serving as RJA PCG president since 2012, Elwyn was also divisional director and senior vice president of the Atlantic Division of RJA for five years. Elwyn began his career at Raymond James in 1993 as a financial advisor trainee out of college. He serves on the Raymond James Executive Committee and multiple Raymond James boards. A graduate of Emory University, Elwyn has continued to be active with the school throughout his career. A native of Boston, Elwyn grew up in Stone Mountain, Georgia, and today lives in St. Petersburg, Florida, with his wife and two children. He is active both locally and nationally as a director for the Metro Tampa Bay Board of the American Heart Association, as a board member of the Invest In Others Charitable Foundation, as chair of the Pinellas Education Foundation Board, and as a Trustee of the USA Climbing Foundation.

Trace Harris joined the Board of USA Climbing in 2021. She is a finance and strategy executive with experience in media, education and technology. She is an experienced board member across public, private and non-profit organizations, including board service for the digital media company Ziff Davis and the technology company Altair and, through summer 2022, for the video game developer Bungie, creator of Halo and Destiny. Trace was previously the senior finance and strategy executive in the US for the media company Vivendi, where she worked with its US businesses, including NBC Universal and Universal Music Group. Trace is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale School of Management. She lives in New York with her husband and enthusiastic dog, Thor. She enjoys running and biking, and she climbs casually with her college-age son.

Founder of Inside the Rings Consultancy and host of the Inside the Rings podcast, Jon Hawkins is a strategic advisor and storyteller focused on building legacy and impact across the Olympic Movement. With a blend of historical insight, public service, and sports industry experience, he helps organizations turn purpose into performance. Jon currently serves on the Executive Board of the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation and the Utah Sports Commission, and played a pivotal role on Utah's successful bid to host the 2034 Winter Olympic Games. In the Utah State Legislature, he champions Olympic and sports-related policy, advancing public-private collaboration for community good. Currently, Jon also leads the Marketing Solutions Group at Adobe Workfront, delivering over $10 million in consultative sales and working with iconic brands like Nike, Disney, and the NFL.

Jill Jacobson, MD is a psychiatrist practicing in New York City. In addition to her private practice in psychiatry, Dr. Jacobson holds voluntary faculty appointments at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. She supervises and teaches residents and psychoanalysts in training and is the Chair of Admissions at the Columbia University Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research. A graduate of Cornell University and the Weill Medical College of Cornell University, Dr. Jacobson completed her residency training in adult psychiatry at the New York Presbyterian Hospital, Weill Cornell Medical Center, where she served as Chief Resident. Dr. Jacobson has two children, who have been climbing and competing for many years. As a parent and as a psychiatrist she has come to appreciate the critical role that climbing can play in the development of a healthy and strong sense of self.

Jonathan Kessler is a serial technology entrepreneur, angel investor and startup advisor. Jonathan has Co-founded, Angel invested in, and advised more than 40 companies. His work spans many different industries such as Logistics, International Finance, Payment Systems, and Data Visualization. Most recently, he was founder and CEO of Cargomatic Inc. Cargomatic was the first implementation of Uber's "Shared Economy" model for the trucking industry. Cargomatic has raised over $350 million from many prominent investors such as SoftBank, Tiger Global, Warburg Pincus, Canaan Partners and SV Angel. The company operates in 8 cities and has thousands of customers such as Amazon, Walmart and Tesla. He still sits on the Board. Prior, he was on the founding team of Camino Networks, a VOIP software provider acquired by eBay in 2006. Mr. Kessler holds a bachelor's in engineering from University of Illinois Urbana/Champaign.

David Landman is a seasoned corporate executive and investment banker with over 35 years of experience in capital markets, mergers and acquisitions, financial services and operations. In connection to USA Climbing, Landman currently serves on the Audit & Compensation and Judicial Committees. He has also been an active sport and trad climber since 1993. His climbing accomplishments include climbing the Seven Summits (the highest mountain on each of the Seven continents, including Mount Everest and Denali), climbing El Capitan three times, and completing the Grand Traverse (the entire skyline of Jackson Hole WY in a 3-day push). Landman's love for climbing is shared by his two sons, who competed in the UK and internationally from 1999-2018. He earned a J.D./M.B.A. from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Law and Booth School of Business, and a B.A. in Economics from Wesleyan University.

Jonathan Leff is a Partner on the Therapeutics team and Chairman of the Deerfield Institute, and joined the Firm in 2013. He focuses on venture capital and structured investments in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. Prior to Deerfield, for more than sixteen years, Mr. Leff was with Warburg Pincus, where he led the firm's investment efforts in biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. He is a member of the Boards of several private healthcare companies as well as several not-for-profit Boards, including the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, Friends of Cancer Research, Reagan-Udall Foundation for the Food and Drug Administration and the Columbia University Medical Center Board of Advisors. Mr. Leff has also been active in public policy discussions related to healthcare and medical innovation. Mr. Leff holds an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

Josh Miller is a natural resources attorney in the Salt Lake City office of Snell & Wilmer LLP, where his practice centers on water law and the full lifecycle of water rights, with additional experience in mining, oil and gas, and real estate matters. He earned his J.D. from the University of Idaho's Boise campus with an emphasis in natural resources and environmental law. During law school, he served as president of the Environmental Law Society and vice president of the Idaho Trial Lawyers Association. Josh discovered climbing in high school, but credits a sophomore-year outing with friends for launching his climbing journey. He quickly gravitated to long days on multi-pitch trad routes, exploring Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons. Memorable climbs include the Nose of El Capitan, the Souter sea stack in Scotland, and Little Cottonwood's Devil's Castle. Josh also serves as secretary of the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance and holds a volunteer board position with Neuroworx.

Johnny O'Brien has over 35 years' experience in the operation, development, acquisition and financing of skilled nursing and assisted living facilities. He worked for 18 years with Life Care Centers of America, the largest privately owned company in the industry. He started out as a CPA and ultimately served as President for his final four years with the company. In 1999, Johnny partnered with Byron Defoor to form Grace Healthcare, which grew to over 40 skilled nursing facilities. In 2000, he was also one of the founding partners of Contemporary Healthcare Capital, LLC, a specialty finance company that has provided over $1 billion in mezzanine loans and preferred equity investments in the senior housing industry. In 2012, Johnny launched High Point Climbing and Fitness, and developed the company's first climbing gym in the heart of Chattanooga's tourist district, which was named the "Coolest climbing gym in the country" by Climbing Magazine. Johnny has been an avid triathlete for 23 years and has competed in over 100 Ironman branded events.

Stephanie grew up hiking, skiing, and camping with her family. She was introduced to climbing after college and was immediately impressed by the physical and mental demands of the sport. Stephanie's background is in neuroscience; her master's and Ph.D. studies focused on neuromuscular degenerative disorders. She completed her post-doc at the Medical College of Wisconsin in functional neuroimaging and was a research professor at Arizona State University studying neurodegenerative communication disorders. A dedicated mother, Stephanie retired from ASU shortly after the arrival of her second child, enabling her to share her love of the outdoors and appreciation of nature with her family. In 2021, Stephanie found her way back to climbing as an activity to share with her youngest child. She is excited to share her passion for all things outdoors and hopes to expand the availability of competitive climbing to more kids in our communities. Stephanie lives in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Dr. Jordan VanLare is a Senior Partner at McKinsey & Company, a global management consultancy, where he is a leader in the healthcare practice. Jordan previously held roles in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and served on the Board of Trustees for the American Medical Association and the American Medical Association Foundation. He is a graduate of Harvard College, the Columbia College of Physicians & Surgeons, and trained in internal medicine at Yale New Haven Hospital. Jordan, his wife, Jane, and their five children reside in New Rochelle, NY and are grateful for the opportunity to support and be part of the USA Climbing community.

Recognized for past service as an inaugural USA Climbing Foundation Trustee and significant contributions to the formation of the Foundation.

Recognized for past service as an inaugural USA Climbing Foundation Trustee and significant contributions to the formation of the Foundation.