CORPORATE
The international headquarters for Pro Performance Sports (owner of the SKLZ brand) are located in Carlsbad, California, a sports Mecca where we’re fortunate enough to be able to test and use our training aids year-round. We believe in helping in the health and betterment of kids and community everywhere, and we not only create products that help to support that position, but we’re also closely involved with charitable organizations that follow the same beliefs. (Some examples include Derek Jeter’s Turn 2 Foundation, the Pujols Family Foundation, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s The Rock Foundation. )
Our team consists of seasoned professionals (and some young upstarts) in the sporting goods industry who are passionate about delivering the highest performance skill development products to serious athletes of all ages and improving their game. Our management team consists of:
John Sarkisian
Chief Executive Officer & Founder
With the original design of the Hit-A-Way Baseball swing trainer, John founded Pro Performance Sports to market the trainer via direct response television. Growing the Hit-A-Way into a multi-million dollar product, he and the rest of the Pro Performance team have now diversified their offering into full lines of trainers for baseball and other sports, and sell them via both retail and direct channels.
John’s entrepreneurial spirit was originally built through his career in real estate and restaurant management, having started out as a commercial real estate broker with Marcus & Millichap, and then founding and serving as CEO for both the Trevi Group (a real estate development and property management company that acquired, developed and managed apartment and medical buildings), and then Pat & Oscar’s (a chain of 14 restaurants in southern California and Arizona that was sold to Sizzler International in 2000). In the course of these ventures, John was awarded as the 1999 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for San Diego County. John also continues as a managing member of Del Mar Heritage, an active homebuilder in San Diego with projects in Poway, Hillcrest, Escondido, Vista and Pacific Beach. The company develops condominiums, apartments, retail centers, office and industrial/RD buildings.
John graduated from the University of Michigan with a BA in Economics, and then attended San Diego State University’s MBA program. He and his wife, Bernadette, and children Alexandria, Vincent, Joseph, and Nicholas live in Rancho Santa Fe, California. John is also the Vice Chair for the YMCA Board of Directors in San Diego County, and is the Chair of the St. James Academy Advisory Board.
Tom Quinn
President
Originally brought on at the end of 2003 to be the VP of sales and marketing, Tom moved into his present position as president of Pro Performance Sports in 2004. Tom has been instrumental in growing the company and expanding it into new categories.
Prior to Pro Performance Sports, Tom spent ten years in both domestic and international sales and marketing positions at Loctite Corporation, a $1B+ specialty chemical, adhesive and sealant company. Before that, he was at Greenfield Industries, the leader in precision industrial cutting tools, in executive sales and marketing roles for four years. Tom had also worked for five years with Nextec Applications, an innovator in high performance woven textiles, primarily servicing the Outdoor and Sporting Goods apparel markets.
A “sports guy” through and through, Tom grew up in Carmel, New York and was a three-sport captain at Carmel High School (football, basketball, baseball). He then went on to Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania on a four-year football scholarship where he earned a degree in chemical engineering. Tom, his wife Catherine, and his children, Mac and Ryli, live in La Costa, California. His interests include family activities, travel, cooking, running, hiking, most sports.
Rick LaPointe
CFO/COO & Founder
Along with John Sarkisian, Rick founded Pro Performance Sports back in February 2002. With a diverse set of skills, he has functioned as the company’s CFO/COO, driving all financial, operating, offshore sourcing and product development functions.
In addition to Pro Performance Sports, Rick and his wife Jackie own one of the largest Pool Services in San Diego County, providing weekly service and maintenance to over 1,500 customers. Rick also founded Aegis Broadband, Inc. where he was the Chief Financial Officer, Board Member, and Secretary. Aegis develops, manufactures and services secure addressable pay-TV systems for cable, satellite and wireless cable operations in the U. S. and abroad. Prior to that, Rick spent fourteen years as Controller at Scientific-Atlanta, Inc. - Signal Processing Systems, an electronic design and manufacturing division specializing in signal processing/sonar, vibration monitoring, rotor track and balancing and spectrum analysis. Rick also held positions as Controller at Vitagold Brands Cooperative Association, San Diego, California, and Staff Accountant at Raymond L. Houde and Company, C.P.A.'s, Nashua, New Hampshire.
Rick graduated from Bentley College in Waltham, MA with a B.S. in Accounting, completed a Managing Corporate Controls and Planning Executive Education Program at Harvard Graduate School of Business and attended Stanford University where he received an AEA in the Stanford Executive M.B.A. Program. As a sports enthusiast, Rick played numerous team sports in high school and college. Rick and his wife Jackie have two sons who are currently attending SDSU and UCSB. He is currently an avid racquetball player and loves to snow ski, water ski and travel.
John Schulte
VP, International Sales / Golf GM
John is an executive with a record of dramatically improving revenue, market share, and profits for global leaders NIKE, Mizuno, and Easton. He has built relationships with major sports brands, industry buyer groups, and dealers, generating impressive sales growth. He capitalized on his early career foundation in the sports and fitness industry by launching a sales/marketing software program targeting team and specialty dealers. He led a strategic planning/execution to launch athlete-inspired products to global regions including US, Europe, Asia, and Americas.
John also held senior level management positions at Applied Applications, LLC, where he partnered with software developers to a launch sales/marketing software product, targeting team and specialty sports markets; Mach 1 Air Services, Inc., an air freight forwarder; and American Sports History, Inc. where he directed the development, marketing and sales efforts of Sportsinfo.com, a new web venture for the company.
John holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and Finance from the UCLA Graduate School of Management and a B.A. in Economics from the University of California Davis.
Greg Shoman
VP of Marketing
With 20 years in a variety of business and marketing disciplines, Greg Shoman has a depth of experience in helping companies establish and build their brands, drive sales and loyalty, improve their operations, and obtain funding. Working both on the client side as well as at agencies during his career, he has served a wide array of industries, with the greatest focus historically being on high tech, entertainment, and sports/fitness.
Most recently, Greg was a partner in Type G, a Solana Beach, California marketing communications company offering a breadth of strategic and creative services ranging from brand and strategy workshops to development of print, TV, direct mail, environmental, and online communications. “Big agency” experience includes Ogilvy & Mather Direct and McCann-Erickson/San Francisco.
He has also served as the executive vice president of Cyberworks, a San Diego Web development company, where he led the company’s strategic planning group, providing Web site planning and copywriting, as well as the development of investor materials for dot-com clients. Other experience includes positions as the director of client services for Manufacturers’ Direct Services, a company focused on building direct marketing and loyalty programs for major sporting goods and health & fitness companies; vice president of marketing and strategic planning at Bidland Systems, an application service provider for online auction functionality; and consumer communications and business development manager at Microsoft Corporation, establishing the presence of its Sidewalk.com online city guide in the San Diego market.
Greg graduated from Stanford University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics, and from San Diego State University with an M.B.A in marketing.