Rodney Mullen

Godfather of Modern Skateboarding 

If you Google Godfather of Skateboarding, Rodney Mullen pops up because he invented most of the tricks in today’s skateboarding and is the most dominant champion in the history of the sport. This has put him in the public eye since his teenage years, which include film, documentaries, TV, video games, and print publications such as The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.

What’s notable is how this same drive and creativity translated to success in business, applied science, and technology. 

Science: Rodney is a Fellow at MIT’s prestigious Media Lab and was appointed by the Smithsonian as a Distinguished Research Scholar, Scientific Advisor to C4 Foundation for active-duty Navy SEALs, and a Collaborator in the Department of Complex Pain & Addictions Services at Vancouver General Hospital. Studying chemical engineering UF, he was recruited into the honorary math society Pi Mu Epsilon as its singular exception, given his unusual mathematical aptitude. He has co-authored papers and contributed to multiple studies on optimizing human performance, neuroscience, resilience, and creativity for the National Academy of Sciences and other notable institutions.  

Business: Rodney co-founded the largest and most lucrative skateboard company throughout the 90s, climaxing in its sale in 2001. Under that umbrella, he launched multiple brands with other pro skaters to help them transition their skill sets, honed as athletes, into business, many of whom dominate the industry today. He holds two patents and is widely credited with modern board and wheel designs. Given his influence on culture and business, he’s presented at Nike, SXSW, Deutsche Telecom, Greylock, The Smithsonian, Wired Magazine, and even Anna Wintour’s private Editor-in-Chief meeting.

Technology: After selling his business, he found Linux Open-Source computing to be a blend of skate culture and engineering, where he naturally connected concepts that ushered him to the TED stage, then recruited into elite gatherings at Silicon Valley’s Google X, Facebook, etc. He has presented at IBM, Apple, plus multiple Data and DevOps conferences. VM-Ware’s CTO was so taken by one presentation that they collaborated on a project yielding insight into a nexus between AI & creativity, even published a paper together. 

Rodney still skates two hours a day.