KOTA Longboards

Mike, our Founder and visionary of the KOTA brand, is a former Navy F-14 pilot and TOPGUN graduate. He's lived and breathed the Knights Of The Air code as a carrier aviator from Kuwait to Iraq to Somalia. He started KOTA with Nikki back in 2012 and has been managing overall operations, sales and capital raises for the company full time since the 'driveway' days 6 years ago. Mike has career-long experience in mission critical leadership, planning and execution. He's the former President/CEO of a Denver-based clean energy technology company spun out from CH2M HILL. Previously, Mike established and managed CH2M HILL’s technology investment portfolio where he led many diverse technology efforts, building product and process technologies into functioning businesses. Mike's responsibilities included managing the Intellectual Property for this 27,000 employee firm. Mike’s expertise bridges both early stage product commercialization and growth opportunities for product adoption in new and emerging markets. Mike is a former United Airlines Captain and has held several voluntary roles in the non-profit community including Chairman of St. Anthony Health Foundation and Flight For Life. He holds a BS Mechanical Engineering from the University of Colorado and a MS Finance from the University of Denver. Mike's an avid downhill skier, roadbiker, woodworker and family man, riding KOTA longboards daily with his kids.

Nikki is the glue that been holding KOTA's operation together since 2012. It's never hard to find Nikki - just follow the sound of her laugh! She handles customer service, order fulfillment, PR, HR, supply chain and much more on a full time basis. Nikki's an entrepreneur with experience in operations, manufacturing, PR, public policy, and economic development. Nikki's a veteran of the Denver Mayor’s Office of Economic Development and International Trade (MOED&IT) where she was an economic development specialist focusing on startups, the high tech sector and development in Downtown Denver, Cherry Creek, Lowry and the Denver Tech Center. Prior to MOED&IT, Nikki worked directly for the President & CEO of CH2M HILL in public affairs. She established a statewide trade organization for the engineering community, worked with the Clinton White House on environmental technology conferences and performed PR, marketing and business development. Nikki has also been active in her community spearheading many change efforts within Denver Public Schools. She also established and served on the boards of Flight for Life, the StEPP Foundation, Safe Routes to School, Collaborative School Committees and more. Nikki holds a BA in Public Policy and History from the University of Denver.

Alyssa has been the purveyor of KOTA's social media presence on a multitude of outlets for the past 2 years. She's a graduate of the University of Northern Colorado with two Bachelor degree's in Journalism and Communication with an emphasis in Public Relations and Advertising and the other in Communication Studies. Alyssa has worked with a Top 500 eCommerce company advancing into a senior management position and previously with a medium market radio company in the advertising department. A small business owner herself, she has found that her strengths are communication, social media, networking, and consulting for small businesses. Alyssa is passionate about purpose-driven work and creating sustainable and long lasting relationships through integrity, loyalty, honesty and good ethics. She is engaged with KOTA through her Social Media Company, Alchemy Unmasked (2015-present). She commits approximately 3 hrs per week to KOTA.

Charles is KOTA’s newest team member having joined KOTA in the past several weeks. He recently left Janus Capital Group after nearly 3 years (2016-2018) to form Biz Savvy Vets with Sean McGrane. Charles received his MBA with an emphasis in Finance from the University of Denver. He's an Army reservist (1998-present) who's served multiple deployments in Afghanistan and Iraq. Charles has over 10 years of experience running marketing campaigns as a Psychological Operations Specialist. As a Combat Engineer he gained project management skills, where he managed projects to ensure that they were completed on time and with limited resources. He has consulted with a local non-profit to develop a strategic plan for growth, and continues to be engaged with special committees to help develop and execute additional strategic initiatives.

Sean has been involved with KOTA since the early days first as a client, then as a part-time employee helping develop our KOTAgrip finish and assisting with production, and now as an investor in KOTA. After nearly 3 years with Scrum Alliance (2015-2018), he's established Biz Savvy Vets and is galvanizing KOTA's marketing and digital marketing efforts. A former Army veteran (1995-2008) with tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan, Sean learned and practiced foundational marketing/advertising skills as a member of the U.S. Army’s Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command. Sean further honed these tools in various tactical and strategic leadership positions in the civilian world across a variety of verticals including retail, construction, health care and non-profit. Sean has assisted with manufacturing and marketing initiatives at KOTA, helped create KOTA’s Denver Public Schools Longboarding program and was instrumental in developing KOTA's Carve It For Life! program.

Wick started in production at KOTA and due to his skill, hard work and professionalism, rapidly advanced to become our Production Manager. Conscientious, always learning and just down right pleasant to work with, Wick is diligent in maintaining KOTA's high standards of quality and consistency. Wick attended Ohio State University (2012-2016), majoring in World Economy and Business in the International Studies program. Before joining the KOTA team, he manufactured components for GE turbines at Indy Honeycomb in Northern Kentucky (2017). Wick’s been an avid outdoorsman, skier and longboarder for over twelve years and strives to integrate his passion into his work to further the growth of the sport.