2023

Seth Alvo is a content creator, entrepreneur, and cycling advocate with two of the largest and most popular mountain bike YouTube channels in the world, Berm Peak and Berm Peak Express. Through his relatable and creative storytelling, he has reached people across the sport and beyond. In addition to his wildly successful YouTube channels, he has started businesses and crowd-funded a free, open-to-the-public bike park. He lives with his family near Asheville, NC.

Lyndi Bell currently oversees Brand Marketing at Smartwool and has worked in the outdoor industry for the past 8 years with prior experience at Chaco Footwear and Wolverine Worldwide. In 2020, she was named one of ten Top Women in Events by Event Marketer Magazine. She is passionate about diversity and representation within the outdoor industry, serving as the Advocacy Team lead within Smartwool and as a mentor through Camber. She currently lives in Denver with her husband Jon and french bulldog Kobe. When not in the office you will find her either skiing or camping, depending on the time of the year.

Liz has talked gear on Good Morning America (TV), in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Men’s Journal, Women’s Health, and Outside Magazine. She represented the sport of hiking at President Obama’s Great American Outdoors Initiative.

Treeline Review is a gear review website dedicated to buying right the first time to reduce environmental waste. It uses inclusive and welcoming gear reviews and representation to encourage more people to get outdoors.

Lindsay is the Marketing Manager for Gregory Mountain Products and is stoked to be participating in the Outdoor Media Summit to help elevate storytelling and inclusivity in the outdoors. After a quarter-life crisis in her early years, Lindsay found the outdoor industry when she quit her corporate job to become a raft guide in southern Utah. Since then, she has run marketing in the nonprofit world, managed field marketing tours, hosting YETI film tours and built a growing, dynamic marketing team for Gregory. When she’s not planning photoshoots, creating global marketing campaigns or at a festival talking about backpacks, you can find her working on her Chaco tan, planning her next adventure or dominating at cribbage.

Janelle Smith serves as the strategic communications team lead for the Recreation.gov program. Working with a communications, marketing and editorial experts, Janelle coordinates content production for the Recreation.gov website and social channels, manages marketing efforts and supports strategic communication efforts for the program. During her 30-year career with the federal government, Janelle has worked in a variety of public affairs, media and web coordination capacities and locations. Janelle’s love of the outdoors pairs nicely with the demands of the job, which is essentially helping people plan trips to outdoor recreation destinations throughout the country.

Jessica (Wahl) Turner is the first President of the Outdoor Recreation Roundtable (ORR), America’s leading coalition of outdoor recreation associations and organizations. Under her leadership, ORR has connected all segments of the outdoor recreation economy to pass historical legislation like the Great American Outdoors Act and achieve millions of dollars in funding for public lands, waters and rural gateway communities. Jessica has over a decade of experience navigating the halls of The White House, Department of the Interior (DOI), Capitol Hill, state recreation offices and outdoor lifestyle businesses. Prior to ORR, she directed Outdoor Industry Association’s (OIA) outdoor recreation portfolio in Washington D.C. where she successfully gained landmark government recognition of outdoor recreation’s contribution to the national Gross Domestic Product as one of America’s leading industry sectors. Jessica began her career at the Department of the Interior where she managed external relations for the Secretary, as well as First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Outside and Let’s Move! in Indian Country initiatives. Jessica is also the co-founder and past-chair of the Coalition for Outdoor Access, serves on the Board of the American Conservation Coalition, Advisory Council of Oregon State University’s Outdoor Economy Program, Business Advisory Council for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and has been recognized for her leadership in D.C. and the outdoor industry with Outdoors’ 30 Under 30 and the Hill’s Top Lobbyist. Jessica has a Master of Arts and bachelor’s degree in American Government from Georgetown University and is a passionate outdoorswoman.

Heather Balogh Rochfort is an award-winning freelancer with bylines in The Washington Post, Outside, Men’s Journal, CNN, Red Bull, Sierra, 5280, and more. She has written 5 books (but swears there won’t be another) and is the hiking expert on The Weather Channel. She lives in the Colorado mountains with her husband and daughter, and considers any day outside well spent.

Jonathan Ellsworth is the founder & editor-in-chief of BLISTER, an outdoor media company based in Crested Butte, CO, that produces honest and extremely in-depth gear reviews; publishes essays, articles, and podcasts related to the broader outdoor industry; hosts the Blister Summit, a multi-day, consumer-focused ski & snowboard test; and established the world’s first Outdoor Industry Engineering program, Blister Labs, in partnership with CU Boulder and Western Colorado University. Before starting BLISTER, Jonathan was a philosophy professor, a writer, and a personal trainer, and he still gets out in the mountains most days to ski, mountain bike, hike, or trail run.

Kent Ebersole is the President of Outdoor Industry Association (OIA). An outdoor industry veteran, Ebersole came to OIA in August of 2022 with a broad range of experience in media, business strategy, and non-profit consulting. Kent spent his early days in the outdoor industry with Rodale and Active Interest Media, managing the business of the outdoor media brands, including Backpacker, Climbing, Ski, and Warren Miller. More recently, he had been consulting for nonprofits, including a project reforming an organization’s business model. He has served on the Camber Board of Directors for the past six years, contributing his leadership and development skills.

Kent brings these skills to his role at OIA, in addition to many years of industry connections, sales, and development experience. In his role as President, Kent works to identify new opportunities for economic growth, deliver new programming for clean manufacturing, focus on timely and relevant membership experiences, and increase membership value while also advocating for pragmatic trade policies and inclusive practices.

Kent hopes to inspire industry leaders and stakeholders to work together toward a more sustainable and equitable future for everyone included in the outdoor industry. He resides on the Front Range in Colorado, and when time permits, he is outdoors. Currently, his personal mission is to find other people from the outdoor industry of all abilities to join him in hiking all the segments of the entire Colorado Trail as slow as possible.

Sara McCarty is the founder of Run Wild My Child (runwildmychild.com), an online resource, community and podcast all about reconnecting families through outdoor activities and adventures. RWMC offers busy parents helpful content about outdoor activities, nature crafts, kid-friendly travel, gear recommendations, parenting advice, and more. The RWMC team is made up of 30+ writers/photographers (moms) from across the globe, all committed to helping parents raise happy, healthy, confident kids that love and respect nature. RWMC hosts online challenges, events, workshops, and an annual nation-wide Treasure Hunt, all to help families get outdoors.