Rick Welts: My Thoughts on Joining the GoPro Board of Directors

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Oct 30, 2017

I'm excited to share that I've officially joined GoPro's board of directors. For a long time I've admired the remarkable leadership team and industry-defining products, but what inspires me most is the resiliency, grit, and unwavering authenticity this company has showed over the past few years while navigating both good and challenging times. I, too, know a little something about making tough decisions, calculated risk-taking, seasons of both glory and loss...and coming out on the other side stronger.

A very abbreviated history of me...

I literally grew up in the NBA. When I was sixteen, I began my career as a ball boy with the Seattle SuperSonics and spent ten years with my hometown team. Fast forward forty years and I'm still here, having spent time at virtually every level of team and league operations, including two decades as Executive Vice President, CMO and President of NBA Properties at the NBA league office in New York City.

In October of 2011, I joined the Golden State Warriors and am now in my seventh season with the team and in that time, we too experienced seasons of triumph and seasons of growth. I'll be honest...it's a lot more fun to be the NBA Champions than to lose...but a ton of hard work goes into both the good and bad years and the things that remain are the valuable lessons that make you grow.

Content Floater

Rick Welts joined by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver at 2017 New York City Pride Parade. Also pictured: Rick's partner, Todd Gage (left), and Adam Silver's wife, Maggie.

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At its core, GoPro is evolving how people share and experience the stories of their lives. The company inspires me in many ways: Huge base of passionate customers, awesome products, a globally recognized brand. GoPro also represents something that's critical in any successful modern company: its commitment to diversity, inclusion, and belonging. This is especially meaningful to me because just before joining the Warriors, after a lifetime of keeping it private, I decided to publicly come out as gay. Needless to say that as the highest-ranking executive in the NBA to ever come out, this was a significant and impactful life decision, which you can read more about here.

I'm proud to join the board of a company with an incredible spirit, sound values, a solid business, and a terrific team. I look forward to working with the other directors in the years to come.

-Rick Welts

LINK:	https://gopro.com/news/warriors-president-coo-rick-welts-joins-board-o...
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