Volt Athletics Announces Inaugural Advisory Board Members

Seattle, WA – Thursday, February 12, 2015: Today, Volt Athletics Inc., the global leader in technology solutions for sport performance training, announced the members of its inaugural Advisory Board. In December 2014, Volt appointed Boyd Epley, the most decorated strength coach in history, to chair the Board. Featuring coaches with deep knowledge and experience in the sport performance industry, the Volt Athletics Advisory Board will be a valuable resource for the Volt team, as well as the thousands of coaches and athletes who rely on the Volt platform to deliver their training.

Boyd Epley, the most decorated strength coach in history, served as the University of Nebraska's head strength coach for 35 years and founded the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). 

The inaugural members of the Volt Athletics Advisory Board include: 

Boyd Epley (Chair), M.Ed., CSCS,*D, FNSCA, RSCC*E, is considered the “Godfather of Strength and Conditioning.” He served as the University of Nebraska’s head strength coach for 35 years and founded the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA) in 1978. Coach Epley was awarded the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award by the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition. According to ESPN, “Epley is arguably the single most important individual in the history of strength and conditioning in college athletics.” Epley returned to Nebraska in October 2014 as the Assistant Athletic Director for Strength and Conditioning and currently oversees the department he originally built. 

Mike Nitka, MS, CSCS*D, RSCC*E, FNSCA, USA-W is the Director of Strength and Conditioning and an instructor of Physical Education at Muskego High School in Southeastern Wisconsin. With 35 years of experience, Coach Nitka has been frequently honored for his contributions to the field, including receiving the Strength of America Award™ from the President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition five times. He has been elected twice to serve on the NSCA Board of Directors as the Vice President of Youth and Adolescent Activities, was voted the NSCA High School Coach of the Year in 1996, Chaired the NSCA Special Interest Group for High School Coaches, as well as several other committees.

Mike Favre, M.Ed., CSCS*D, RSCC*D, USAW-2, is the Director of Olympic Sports Strength and Conditioning at the University of Michigan where he oversees the physical development for 30 sports programs. All areas of long- and short-term planning/periodization, testing, education, and physical preparation within the Olympic Sports Department fall under his direction. Previously, Coach Favre was with the United States Olympic Committee as a strength and conditioning coach/physiologist for over five years, where his chief responsibilities included wrestling, judo, and taekwondo. In his 18 years of experience, Coach Favre has worked extensively with collegiate, professional, and elite international athletes. Coach Favre was the 2011 recipient of the NSCA’s College Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year Award. 

Justin D. Smith, CSCS, RSCC-D, USAW, is the Co-Director of Athletic Performance at the University of Vermont (UVM), where he has spent the last 10 years as a strength coach. He oversees the strength and conditioning programs for the field hockey, men’s and women’s alpine and Nordic skiing, men’s hockey, and men’s and women’s track and field programs. Coach Smith is also the Vermont State Director for the NSCA. Before Smith joined the staff at UVM, he served as an assistant at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, designing and implementing programs for field hockey, women’s soccer, men’s golf, and women’s tennis. Prior to arriving at Miami University, Smith was the strength and conditioning coach for the Lakewood BlueClaws, an affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies Major League Baseball team, in the South Atlantic League.

Devan McConnell, CSCS, NASM-PES, NASM-CES, is the Director of Sports Performance at UMass Lowell. Coach McConnell oversees the Sports Performance Department and is directly responsible for training the RiverHawks ice hockey team. Prior to his time at UMass Lowell, Coach McConnell was a Sports Performance Coach at Stanford University, where he oversaw the development of the men's and women's volleyball programs, as well as the women's basketball team. Coach McConnell has also coached at Mike Boyle Strength and Conditioning and with the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks of the NHL. 

“This diverse group has been hand-selected to help Volt bring extensive strength and conditioning expertise to coaches and athletes,” said Boyd Epley. “We’re combining decades of industry knowledge with Volt’s revolutionary technology, thereby enabling more athletes to access safe and effective training.”

The Board will advise Volt on all matters related to strength and conditioning to ensure that only the best training, backed by the latest science and research, is delivered through the Volt platform. 

“We are honored to have these industry leaders from around the country join the Volt Team,” said Dan Giuliani, Co-Founder and CEO of Volt Athletics. “Their contributions will help Volt Athletics reach our goal of making elite-level training affordable and accessible to athletes everywhere.” 

For more information on the Volt Athletics Advisory Board and its members, visit voltathletics.com/about.

About Volt Athletics: 

Volt Athletics (‘Volt’) provides athletes everywhere with unprecedented access to world-class strength and conditioning. Through cloud-based technology, Volt brings the expertise of professional strength coaches to sports teams around the world, giving coaches and athletes the structure and resources needed to train at an elite level, affordably. Volt Athletics was founded by Dan Giuliani and Trevor Watkins in April 2011 and launched to the public in 2013. 
 

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