About STACK

STACK is a multimedia company that provides credible and reliable information, tools and services to help active sports participants get better at the games they play and the lives they lead. Since its founding in 2005, STACK has continually launched new products and services to meet the needs of athletes and fitness enthusiasts, helping them improve not only their on-field performance but also their off the field lifestyle and entertainment habits.

STACK Platforms

STACK reaches a growing audience through STACK Media, STACK Magazine, STACK.com, STACK TV, MySTACK and the STACK Performance Center.

STACK Media, is one of the top sports properties on the Internet, with more than six million unique visitors and 130 million page views per month, according to comScore. Recognizing that active young athletes are hard to reach online, STACK Media combines its unique and appealing editorial content with product and service offerings from a number of its partners to fully engage its audience through a distributed media network. From its origins as a magazine publisher, STACK Media has become the acknowledged leader in reaching active sports participants online.

STACK Magazine, requested by more than 12,000 high school athletic directors, has a circulation of 800,000 and a readership of nearly five million high school athletes. Published six times throughout the school year, the magazine is filled with expert advice from top professional athletes and industry experts on training, nutrition, sports skills, gear and lifestyle. It is now distributed in more than two-thirds of the nation’s high schools.

STACK.com, the digital home for all STACK content and web-based tools, provides content exclusively for active sports participants. Covering more than 20 sports and featuring gaming, entertainment, and style information as well as training, nutrition and sports skills, the site offers something for everyone with an interest in sports who wants to take their game to the next level.

STACK TV, an online platform with unique, proprietary videos, constitutes the largest video library of sports performance content on the web. More than 6,500 (and counting) videos showcase top professional and collegiate athletes, coaches, trainers and sports nutritionists, as well as leading lifestyle experts offering information they use and advice they follow in their own lives and with their superstar clients.  

MySTACK is a social network and recruiting site that allows athletes to create profiles with their personal information and stats, upload highlight films and photos, and send their profiles to college coaches. Tens of thousands of athletes have signed up as MySTACK members, and many use the network to connect (and compete) with each other as well as to take control of the recruiting process.

The STACK Performance Center, fueled by Gatorade, is the premiere online training tool for performance athletes, providing sport-specific workouts, customized content, tracking tools and other features that help athletes improve their performance.

STACK Partners

Eastbay, STACK’s official retail partner, is the world’s leading supplier of athletic shoes, clothing and sports equipment. Established to meet the performance needs of local high school and college athletes in Central Wisconsin and originally viewed as a grassroots project, it grew into a worldwide direct mail catalog and internet sales conglomerate featuring top athletic brands such as adidas, ASICS, Reebok, Jordan, New Balance, Saucony and Nike.

Foot Locker is a specialty retailer that operates approximately 3,400 stores in 22 countries in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. Through its Foot Locker, Footaction, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, Champs Sports and CCS retail stores, as well as its direct-to-customer channel Footlocker.com/Eastbay/CCS, the Company is the leading provider of athletic footwear and apparel.

Gatorade, a division of PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP), provides sports performance innovations designed to meet the needs of athletes at all competitive levels and across a broad range of sports. Gatorade Thirst Quencher® is backed by more than 40 years of research and is scientifically formulated and athletically proven to quench thirst, replace fluids and electrolytes, and provide carbohydrate energy to enhance athletic performance. The company's product portfolio is built around the G Series™, a 1‐2‐3 approach to athlete nutrition and hydration—before (Gatorade Prime 01™), during (Gatorade® Perform 02 and G2® Perform 02), and after (Gatorade Recover 03™) training or competition. For more information, please visit www.gatorade.com

beRecruited is the nation's Number 1 online networking destination for high school student-athletes seeking to be recruited by college and university coaches. beRecruited allows high school student-athletes to build profiles of verified academic and athletic information, collect information on colleges and universities around the country, and reach out to college coaches. Registered college coaches can search a vast database of potential recruits and directly connect with them. To date, beRecruited has over 1 million registered users, including at least one student in 80% of U.S. high schools, 68% of college coaches, over 25,000 high school & club coaches, and over 25,000 parents.

STACK Editorial Advisors

Tim Grover

Michael Jordan and 7% of the current NBA

 

Known as the "trainer to the pros" and as one of the top trainers in the business, Tim Grover has spoken to audiences around the globe. He has been recognized as one of the leading sports enhancement specialists since 1989, when he was selected as exclusive trainer to Michael Jordan. Grover's clients include Dwyane Wade, Ben Gordon, Elton Brand, Antoine Walker, Alex Rodriguez, Simeon Rice and many other sports stars.

Mark Verstegen

Olympic Teams and MLB Stars

 

One of the world's elite performance enhancement specialists, Mark Verstegen, founder of Athletes' Performance (Tempe, Ariz.), has trained numerous first-round NFL draft picks, WTA Grand Slam champions, top PGA/LPGA players, AL and NL Major League Baseball rookies of the year, MLB batting champions, NBA All-Stars and world-class athletes from many other sports. Verstegen authored the acclaimed training book, Core Performance: The Revolutionary Workout Program to Transform Your Body and Your Life. Athletes' Performance clients include Nomar Garciaparra, Curt Schilling, Carl Crawford, Brett Favre and Mia Hamm.

Chip Smith

200 NFL Players

 

One of the foremost speed and strength experts in the United States, Chip Smith has trained more than 200 current NFL players. He offers one of the best Combine preparation programs in the nation for scores of players selected each year in the NFL Draft. Smith did post-graduate work in speed and strength studies at the world-renowned Soviet Sports Institute. He trains many NFL, NBA and MLB stars, including Brian Urlacher, Champ Bailey, Antwaan Randle El, Mike Williams, Kendrell Bell and Ashley Lelie.

Tom Shaw

70 First-Round NFL Draft Picks

 

Tom Shaw is one of the nation's leading authorities on flexibility and strength conditioning for football, track and baseball. Since 2001, he has served as assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Prior to that, he held the same position for the New Orleans Saints. Shaw offers one of the premiere NFL Draft Combine preparation programs, and he has worked with 70 first-round draft picks in the past eight years. Shaw's clients include Deion Sanders, Michael Vick, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Laveranues Coles, Jevon Kearse, and many other top NFL stars.

STACK Founders

STACK was created by Nick Palazzo and Chad Zimmerman in 2000, while they were both playing football in college—at Harvard and Carnegie Mellon, respectively. As serious athletes, the two were continually frustrated by the lack of credible sports performance and training information.

Nick Palazzo, Co-Founder/CEO. A 2003 cum laude graduate of Harvard College, Nick compiled a distinguished athletic and academic record. As a running back, he finished among Harvard’s all-time leading rushers and scorers, earning the Vic Gatto, Buzz Crain and Henry Lamar Awards during his career. Academically, Nick was honored as a Harvard Scholar, Holland Scholar, Harvard’s nominee to the National Scholar-Athlete Hall of Fame and Academic All-Ivy League. Since his graduation, Nick has served as STACK’s CEO, overseeing the buildout of STACK’s sales, marketing and business development operations. Nick has also been intimately involved in establishing and maintaining relationships with more than 50 blue chip marketers and several strategic partners. With his unique insights into the mindset of high performing and highly motivated athletes, Nick provides feedback and perspective to marketers, creating relationships that go beyond advertising and sponsorship.

Chad Zimmerman, Co-Founder/President & COO. In 2004, Chad earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from the prestigious Carnegie Institute of Technology, ranking among the top student-athletes at Carnegie Mellon University. An All-America and All-Region honoree in his senior year, Chad was a team captain, four-year starter at offensive guard and three-time First Team All-Conference selection. Academically, Chad won the Enterprise Award with Special Distinction from The Donald H. Jones Center for Entrepreneurship and the Senior Leader Award from the Carnegie Mellon University Faculty. Upon graduation, Chad became STACK’s President & COO. Since 2005, he has built STACK’s editorial team, which powers all of its content properties. Leveraging his knowledge of sports performance and the mentality and attitude of athletes, Chad ensures that STACK’s content is authoritative, that it accurately conveys the message of its expert contributors, and that it speaks authentically to the athletes who trust and rely on it. STACK’s sports performance content is enthusiastically embraced by its consumers, by the 600+ professional experts who contribute, and by its advertisers and marketing partners.

STACK Board of Directors

Peter Johnson, Vice Chairman, STACK Media, Inc. Former CEO, Sports & Entertainment, International Management Group

Jeff Lucier, Chairman & Senior Editor, STACK Media, Inc. Former CEO, All-Stater Publishing and Banks-Baldwin Law Publishing Company

Mark Morris, former Chairman, Ted Bates Agency 

John Mueller, CEO, CapitalWorks, LLC

Nick Palazzo, Co-Founder/CEO,  STACK Media, Inc.

Thomas Vardell, Managing Director, Northgate Capital    

Chad Zimmerman, Co-Founder/President & COO, STACK Media, Inc.