GORUCK, the leader of the rucking revolution and maker of the toughest gear on planet Earth, today announced that Mike Vallely has joined the company as Chief Brand Officer.
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As Chief Brand Officer, Vallely will serve as a storyteller and voice for the brand, joining co-founders Jason and Emily McCarthy in representing GORUCK to its community and the wider public.
One of the most influential street skateboarders of all time and a Skateboarding Hall of Fame inductee, Vallely brings four decades as a professional athlete, musician, and entrepreneur to a company founded on a single stubborn idea: that carrying weight makes you stronger. His path to GORUCK encompasses a long friendship with co-founder and CEO Jason McCarthy, a former Green Beret who started GORUCK in 2008. The two came to know each other as independent entrepreneurs, McCarthy building GORUCK and Vallely running his own skateboard company, Street Plant, for roughly a decade. After Vallely finished his first GORUCK Challenge in 2011, the friendship deepened around a shared worldview and a belief in doing hard things on foot.
As Chief Brand Officer, Vallely will serve as a storyteller and voice for the brand, joining co-founders Jason and Emily McCarthy in representing GORUCK to its community and the wider public.
“Mike V has led a unique life on his own terms, and I respect the hell out of that. We met on a brutal overnight 14-hour GORUCK Challenge over 15 years ago. He was gritty and a great teammate who loved to embrace the suck, and nothing has changed about him since — which is both rare and motivating,” said Jason McCarthy, GORUCK Co-Founder and CEO. “His passion and energy are infectious and we’re thrilled for him to join our team as Chief Brand Officer, a guardian of the soul of who we are and how we build and grow communities of ruckers all over the world, one step at a time.”
Years prior to joining the company, Vallely was a GORUCK figure in everything but name. Fronting the punk band Black Flag kept him on the road for years, and wherever he landed, he found his way outdoors, carrying weight through city streets or into mountains and canyons any chance he could get. It was an appointment with himself, a way to stay balanced, clear and honest, and he was doing it long before he had a word for it or a brand to call home.
“I’ve never been bored, because I’ve always lived the life I wanted. Every part of my life, from skating and music to building brands, has been about pursuing my passions, and rucking is no different,” said Mike Vallely. “My passion for rucking has led me to GORUCK. This is where I see my reflection. This is where I want to be, what I choose to do, and where I believe I belong.”
Vallely joins GORUCK at a pivotal moment for both the brand and the movement it helped create, as rucking continues to explosively grow as a mainstream fitness movement. Rucking has broken out of its military roots into one of the fastest-growing areas of mainstream fitness, with GORUCK at the center of that rise. What began as a bootstrapped rucksack company built to Special Forces standards has grown into a national community united by a simple idea, that carrying weight on your back makes you stronger. Vallely’s role is to carry that origin forward as rucking reaches its widest audience yet, keeping the brand true to what it has always been while meeting a new generation discovering it for the first time, and challenging themselves in ways they didn’t know they were capable of.
About GORUCK
Founded in 2008 by former Green Beret, Jason McCarthy, and CIA field agent Emily McCarthy, GORUCK is headquartered in Jacksonville Beach, FL. Jason’s commitment to the Special Forces way of life, coupled with what he had learned in war, inspired him to build a “go-bag,” or “go-ruck” for his wife, Emily, who was working in French-speaking West Africa. The bag was meant for her to keep in her vehicle and at home, ready to go at all times.
This “go-bag” would serve as the catalyst for what eventually became GORUCK’s original piece of gear, the GR1. It took over two years to design and manufacture the rucksacks and ensure they would thrive in both Baghdad and NYC. Green Berets and spies were the judge and jury of quality and functionality.
GORUCK prides itself on building the toughest rucking & workout gear on the planet backed by its SCARS Lifetime Guarantee, offering rucksacks, footwear, apparel, ruck plates, training gear, and more. The company builds every style from the ground up, working with everyone from Special Forces Soldiers to Intelligence Professionals to World Champion Athletes to test, iterate, and build the best.
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