OUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jen Nam – Board Chair
Jen Nam
Jen Nam
Jen hails from northern Virginia and has lived all over the US from her time in the Army. She served for 10.5 years on active duty, with several combat deployments in Iraq/Afghanistan and currently serving in the Army Reserves but claims California as her home and is a West Coaster at heart. Having grown up in a bi-cultural home (parents immigrated from South Korea) and as a shy kid, she found athletics and movement to be an integral and empowering part of her confidence building and grit during her childhood and later in the Army for camaraderie, and now for mental health and rejuvenation. She has a strong passion for the veteran community that she served with and for empowering others to grow and spend time in the mountains.
Jen has a BS from the United States Military Academy at West Point and a Masters in Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School and is currently working in Strategy and Operations in virtual reality at Meta. In her free time, she loves chasing mountain pursuits of all flavors and on all corners of the earth – but her favorites are alpine climbing, rock climbing, mountaineering, and backpacking. She currently lives in San Francisco, California, but you’ll find her traveling for mountain adventures as much as her job will allow.
Mike Pigg
Mike Pigg
Mike Pigg
Mike has been involved in the experiential education industry for 20 years as an educator, trainer, and administrator. Inspired by a lifetime of travel and adventure, he has a long history with Outward Bound (OB). Firstly, in Australia where he instructed courses for several years before serving as the Safety Director, and then General Manager. In addition, his experience in Australia includes extensive work within the tertiary/vocational training sector. Mike joined OB in the US in 2015. Initially as the OBUSA Associate Safety Director, then Director of Operations at the Colorado Outward Bound School, and most recently as the OBUSA National Safety Director.
Mike’s current volunteer work includes council member with the Association for Experiential Education (Standards and Accreditation), chair of the Wilderness Risk Management Conference (Steering Committee), and member of the Outward Bound International Risk Management Committee.
He lives in Salida, Colorado with his wife and two girls, spending as much time in the backcountry as possible camping, hiking and skiing.
Mike Kane
Mike Kane
Mike Kane
Mike grew up riding bikes, canoeing lazy rivers, and camping in the midwest. He escaped to Colorado after high school and has cultivated his passion for the outdoors, adventure, and travel ever since. After a ski accident in his early twenties that resulted in T-9 paralysis, Mike made it his mission to find new ways to do the things he had always loved; exploring and adventuring. Mike continues to adapt objectives, equipment, and adventures, recognizing the value of physical effort and exploring the unknown. He is committed to expanding opportunities to those in the disabled community.
Mike’s career focus has been working to support others in and through times of challenge. The most rewarding being working for adaptive sports programs as an instructor and guide, as a teacher of adolescents experiencing emotional and behavioral issues, and providing learning opportunities for incarcerated adults.
Currently living in Durango, CO, Mike enjoys bike packing, camping, and cross country skiing with his awesome wife and six year old daughter.
Erin Beth Agee
Erin Beth Agee
Erin Beth Agee
Erin grew up in the mountains of Northern California before moving to Boulder, Colorado in elementary school. On multi-day river trips since she was three, she developed a deep reverence for wilderness and its transformational power. This reverence inspires her current position as an enforcement attorney at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Erin has worked in outdoor spaces in a variety of contexts, leading backpacking, canoeing, and white water rafting trips, working in environmental justice for Winona LaDuke’s White Earth Land Recovery Project, and serving on the Diversity Committee for the Bicycle Racing Association of Colorado’s Board of Directors. Dedicated to advancing community capacity for dialogue and conflict resolution, she is trained as a mediator and restorative justice facilitator and serves as EPA Region 8’s Environmental Collaboration and Conflict Resolution Specialist.
Erin enjoys rivers, triathlons, skiing, blacksmithing, and writing and reading poetry. She received her B.A. in English from Kalamazoo College and her J.D. from Cornell Law. She currently lives in Boulder, Colorado.
Shane Farver
Shane Farver
Shane Farver
A multi-sport outdoor enthusiast for most of his adult life, Shane joined the adaptive climbing community in 2018 following a climbing gym accident. His first interaction with Paradox Sports was in April of 2022. On a whim, he drove nine hours to climb with Paradox at Colorado’s Shelf Road. He came away from that experience with what are sure to be lifelong friends, and he’s grateful to give back to an organization that has greatly impacted his life.
Shane enjoys both indoor and outdoor climbing, as well as ice climbing. When he isn’t pulling plastic, touching rock or swinging sharp things, he can be found packrafting, mountain biking, and gravel biking.
In addition to his service on the Paradox Sports board, Shane serves as the Communications Director for the Adaptive Climbers Festival, a multi-day festival in Kentucky’s Red River Gorge for climbers with disabilities. He also previously worked on the staff of an adaptive climbing program at a Utah gym. He has about 25 years of experience in communications, education and marketing, and he is currently a Marketing and Special Projects Director for a public university.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in communication from Weber State University in 2004 and a master’s degree in mass communication from the University of Utah in 2009. He lives just outside of Salt Lake City with his wife, two dogs and a bird named Dan.
Chase Christiansen
Chase Christiansen
Chase Christiansen
Chase Christiansen is a marketing and communications strategist with more than 15 years of experience helping organizations define their message, strengthen outreach, and navigate complex public and private sector challenges. As a consultant, he has led campaigns and communications strategies across government, nonprofit, and corporate clients—building data-driven, human-centered approaches that drive measurable impact.
Beyond his professional work, Chase is a dedicated adaptive athlete, ranking 6th in the U.S. at Paraclimbing Nationals and 18th in the world at the Paraclimbing World Championships. His competitive experience fuels his commitment to growing opportunity and visibility within the adaptive community. In his board role, he brings that same drive to empower athletes of all abilities—advocating for inclusion, access, and the transformative power of sport.
Leigh Gray
Leigh Gray
Leigh Gray
Leigh Gray is a former professional athlete who now brings the same dedication from sport into expanding access to the outdoors. She believes deeply in the transformative power of challenge, community, and stepping beyond comfort zones.
With an MBA from La Salle University and more than a decade in the outdoor industry, she has led global account marketing, training and education, brand initiatives, and event and sponsorship programs.
Based in Colorado with her husband, Leigh spends her free time mountain biking, climbing on ice, and playing soccer as much as possible. She is inspired by the mission of Paradox Sports and is committed to supporting its vision, celebrating the power of community and outdoors.
Jill Daugherty
Jill Daugherty
Jill Daugherty
Jill Daugherty is a finance executive and engineer with deep expertise in financial planning and analysis, data analytics, and strategic decision-making. She has led budgeting and forecasting for multi-billion-dollar businesses, built data-driven reporting systems that link operational and financial performance, and driven initiatives that have delivered millions in cost savings and revenue growth.
Jill currently serves as Chief Financial Officer at Censis Technologies. She previously held senior finance leadership roles at Advanced Sterilization Products, Lumen Technologies, and Level 3 Communications, where she led large-scale FP&A, data governance, and margin improvement efforts. Known for building high-performing analytical teams, she brings a disciplined, systems-oriented approach to improving financial performance and organizational effectiveness.
Jill has also served for over a decade on the board and finance committee of the Women’s Bean Project. She holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame. Jill brings strong financial leadership and strategic insight to the Paradox Sports Board.
Jim Auker
Jim Auker
Jim Auker
Jim Auker brings 25 years of finance, investing, corporate advisory, and executive management experience to Paradox Sports.
Jim is currently a Managing Director at Harney Partners, a nationally recognized corporate advisory firm that helps middle market organizations rise above complex financial and operational situations. Jim is actively involved in multiple engagements in senior executive roles to drive value and deliver transformative change for his clients.
In addition to Paradox Sports, Jim He currently serves as Treasurer of Hope4theOrphan, an organization supporting vulnerable children in Africa. He also serves as an independent director on the board of Lantronix, Inc., a global provider of Edge AI and Industrial IoT solutions.
Jim earned an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and a B.A. in Business and Economics from Wheaton College. He currently lives in Wheaton, IL with his wife and four daughters.
Jim is a lifelong skier and outdoor enthusiast who enjoys sharing that legacy with his family as well as others.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
D.J. Skelton
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Co-Founder
D.J. Skelton
D.J. Skelton
DJ Skelton grew up in Elk Point, SD. He briefly attended the University of South Dakota before embarking upon an unorthodox path of serving our Nation over the past two decades. His energy, leadership, sense of adventure and inspiration has gained him National and Global recognition.
DJ enlisted in the United States Army in 1996 as an interrogator and is a graduate of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center (DLIFLC). In 1999 he was nominated to attend the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY, and commissioned in 2003 as a 2LT. After graduating from Infantry Officer Basic Course and Airborne school, DJ was severely wounded in November, 2004, while leading a rifle infantry platoon in Charlie Company, 1-5 IN BN, 1st BDE of the 25th ID in close combat in Fallujah, Iraq.
During his recovery DJ was introduced to the adaptive climbing community and subsequently co-founded Paradox Sports, where he has served as a board member and currently serves as an advisor.
Malcolm Daly
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Co-Founder
Malcolm Daly
Maclolm Daly
Malcolm Daly is an icon in the outdoor world with 35 years of outdoor industry and non-profit experience. Malcolm was a co-founder of Paradox Sports, served as the executive director for five years and currently serves on the advisory committee. Better known for his affability, sense of humor and to-the-point insight, Malcolm’s wide-ranging business, outdoor sports and non-profit experience provides for a lively, entertaining and educational encounter. Malcolm is the founder of Great Trango Holdings, Inc. a leading supplier of innovative climbing equipment (Trango) and women’s activewear (Stonewear Designs). Starting the company from scratch in 1991 Daly built it into a multi-million dollar company doing business in 17 countries. During that time he started up two non-profits in the climbing world: the Access Fund, dedicated to retaining access to climbing resources and the Action Committee for Eldorado, a climber’s advocacy and liaison group specific to Eldorado Canyon State Park. Daly was an active board member of the Access Fund for thirteen years.
Timmy O’Neill
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Co-Founder
Timmy O'Neill
Timmy O’Neill
Timmy O’Neill is recognized as one of the world’s funniest, most irreverent and insightful climbing presenters, as well as a co-founder of Paradox Sports. He has climbed in the remote ranges of the world, completing first ascents from Greenland to Patagonia. His worldwide travels as well as adventures in community service and humanitarian work drives him today. In 1991, Timmy’s older brother Sean became a T-12 paraplegic after jumping from a Memphis Bridge into the Mississippi River. Fifteen years later, the O’Neill brothers successfully climbed El Capitan, a 3,000-foot vertical rock wall in Yosemite National Park. Since then, Timmy has kayaked, skied, climbed and hiked with numerous paraplegics, amputees and blind athletes. Timmy served as the executive director and board chair of Paradox Sports, and spearheaded the creation of the adaptive climbing manual, significantly increasing mission impact during his tenure. Timmy is currently a professional athlete and speaker.
Rex Laceby – Veterans Program Advisor
Rex Laceby
Rex Laceby – Military and Veterans Program Advisor
Rex Laceby is a retired, prior-enlisted, Marine Corps Officer. He is honored to have lead numerous Special Operations missions, conventional combat/peace keeping missions, international interoperability exercise, and conducted several humanitarian & disaster relief operations. As a combat veteran with some significant injuries sustained in Iraq and Afghanistan, Rex understands how Paradox Sports Veteran Programs can help our veterans deal with physical disabilities and those often unseen. Paradox Sports helps veterans find a new Task, Purpose and Sense of Community. Rex currently works for the Department of Defense with the National Security Technology Accelerator, operating out of the University of Colorado Boulder. Rex Co-Founded and serves as President of the CU Boulder Veterans Alumni Association and is engaged in other statewide veteran support organizations. Feeling the obligation to continue to serve his community, Rex is a technical rescue volunteer with Boulder Emergency Squad (BES). He is proud to serve Boulder County as a Public Safety Diver, Swift Water Rescue Technician, Wildland firefighter and Ice Rescue Trainer. Rex was asked to serve as Military and Veteran Program Advisor at Paradox. He feels it is a tremendous privilege and honor to volunteer with Paradox; helping them continue to develop programing for the brave men and women that have served our Nation’s Military.
