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CrossFit Announces Inaugural Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council Members

February 12, 2021 by
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On Friday morning CrossFit Home Office announced the ten members of its inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Council. The council is a huge step in the implementation of CEO Eric Roza’s foundational principles for addressing DEI within the CrossFit community.

Remind me: In his first Town Hall session on August 20, Roza discussed the issues of DEI within the community and the sport, stating “If CrossFit stands for something, and we know it does…It stands for — we see people’s common humanity, and we are not gonna discriminate against people. We’re going to affirmatively reach out and make sure people feel welcome.”

  • Since that announcement, Roza has made efforts in addressing the issues of DEI and put in place initiatives to combat these grievances and disparities.
  • Roza hired a leader for inclusion and diversity, Trish Gerlitz, who reports directly to him. And, they have created an email account [email protected] to gather information and feedback on these issues from community members.
  • CrossFit has committed to fund a $7 million endowment for the CrossFit Foundation to advance public health in underserved communities. As a part of this initiative, the endowment will help fund boxes operating within those communities.
  • CrossFit has launched a Scholarship Program to expand access by providing no-cost L1 training in underserved and underrepresented communities.
  • Roza also announced that he would create a council from a community that would advise, review and strengthen DEI efforts within the community and the sport.
  • In November, CrossFit Home Office started accepting applications for the DEI Council, which led to Friday’s announcement.
  • The ten-member council includes individuals that represent DEI from the community, sport, health, training and education.

DEI Council Members:

  • Casey Jordan (Coach at UAVE CrossFit).
  • Jennifer Hunter-Marshall (Co-owner/Co-head coach of CrossFit Garden City, Games athlete).
  • Wylie Belasik (Owner, Subversus Fitness; Founder, UliftU).
  • Chandler Smith (CrossFit Games athlete).
  • Athena Perez (Owner, Scaled Nation CrossFit).
  • Dillon King (Owner, Flambeaux Fit).
  • Amy West (CrossFit Health and CrossFit Games Medical Team).
  • Shaun Ward (Member, Hornet’s Nest CrossFit).
  • Erin Comollo (Trainer, CrossFit Stealth).
  • Mason C. Alberts (Member, CrossFit NCR).

The bottom line: Roza has made good on his promises to make DEI a priority, the latest announcement shows his continuation to make CrossFit more inclusive to people of all age, race, gender, physical ability, religion and sexual orientations. He still has more work to do and he has laid out a plan to achieve that. Those plans include:

  • Developing a DEI education, awareness, and training plan for CrossFit employees and other stakeholders.
  • Participating in the Corporate Equality Index through the Human Rights Campaign and publishing our results.
  • Continuing to recruit, hire, and promote extraordinary candidates from diverse backgrounds, genders, and ethnicities.

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