Joe De Sena

Joe De Sena (born January 2, 1969) is the CEO and co-founder of the Spartan Race, a series of obstacle courses.[1]

Early life

Growing up in Howard Beach, Queens, a territory that was controlled by the infamous Mafia Don, John Gotti. De Sena's mother quickly looked to move him and his sister upstate to Ithaca, NY, just as Joe was building a small business around selling fireworks, Joe's mother practiced progressive health and wellness during the 70's, a time that was certainly foreign to fitness and healthy living. She introduced yoga, farming as well as raw fruits, vegetables and extreme endurance to create a healthy lifestyle.

A few years later, with a return to Howard Beach to live with his father Ralph, Joe adopted his father's entrepreneurial mindset. At around age 13 Joe created a swimming pool and construction company that expanded from the Howard Beach neighborhood all the way through the Boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn. At the age of 25 Joe sold his companies and started a journey in finance on Wall Street.

On Wall Street, De Sena worked as an equities and derivatives trader[2] and engaged various outdoor activities ranging from multiple IronMan races, to the iditarod by foot .[3] In early 2007, De Sena moved his family to Pittsfield, Vermont to operate a farm, a bed and breakfast, and a general store for hikers.[4] In his spare time, De Sena competes in grueling athletic events like the Ironman and the Furnace Creek 508 Bike Race.[4]

Spartan Race

In 2005, De Sena met Andy Weinberg and they decided to develop a new series of obstacle course races and in 2008, De Sena began the Peak.com Corporation with Julian Kopald to promote endurance sports and events such as the Death Race, a 24-hour physical and psychological event.

Peak.com first began holding races under the Spartan Race brand in 2010. Beginning as two distinct race distances, the Sprint consisted of just over three miles and the Super, which was approximately eight miles. The series caught the attention of the masses who were looking for something to inspire and challenge them. Signature obstacles such as the rope climb, sandbag carry, and barbed-wire crawl were commonplace in these events, while the spear throw became a right of passage at the end of each race just before a fire jump to the finish line. Eventually, the Beast was added giving racers the ability to complete three different race distances in a year and collect the coveted Trifecta medal.

As the company grew, races were held across the country, and were slowly tiered out into the rest of the world. Initially, Spartan Race tested the European market in Slovakia. During the same year, Peak.com's Spartan Race was named "Best Obstacle Race in 2012" by Outside Magazine with over 350,000 competitors participating. Spartan Race continued to find success as the premier Obstacle Race expanding into Australia, Mexico, Germany, and beyond.

In August 2012, the Raptor Group, an equity firm run by Jim Pallotta, invested in Spartan Race with John Burns from Raptor Consumer Partners joining the Board of Directors for Spartan Race, Inc. The new venture began as Spartan Race unveiled a new stadium series of races beginning with Fenway Park. In 2013, Spartan Race expanded the stadium series to include CITI Field, Miller and AT&T parks.[3]

In 2014, Desena sued the Co-Founders of Peak and Spartan Races, Andy Weinberg and Julian Kopald and began promoting that he had started these races by himself.

In 2014, Joseph Desena and Spartan was also found to have taken roughly 99% of the charity money promised to veterans at races in Tampa.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Webster, Donovan. "How Fitness Has Become the Secret to Multimillion-Dollar Success". Men's Fitness. Retrieved 2013-10-18.
  2. ↑ Miller, Stuart (2011-06-21). "Vermont’s Amazing, Grueling, Traumatic Race". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
  3. 1 2 Brick, Michael (9 June 2009). "You Created It, Tough Guy. So Let's See You Finish It". The New York Times. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  4. 1 2 Baverman, Laura (11 January 2013). "Are you Spartan Race material? Prove it in a Death Race and you're hired". Upstart Business Journal. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  5. ↑ "WTSP Channel 10 Investigates". Retrieved 24 December 2015.
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