About the Author

Mitch Thrower, the "Ironman of Entrepreneurship,” is the author of the popular monthly "Starting Lines" column in Triathlete magazine.  A serial entrepreneur, Thrower is the co-founder of Inc. magazine’s 99th fastest growing company on the Inc. 500 list: the Active Network, Inc, a software, marketing and registration powerhouse.  He also co-founded and was the CEO of The Active Europe Network, Ltd. which operates Active’s business model in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. His initiative and efforts to rapidly consolidate participatory sports registration software companies worldwide has, without any doubt, created the "Ticketmaster" of participatory sports. His entrepreneurial ideas and initiative have forever changed the global landscape of sports.

Thrower was founder and CEO of The College Connection and The Rail Connection, and has consulted for American Express, AT&T, and Eurail.

Thrower is Co-Chairman of Project Active, a non-profit initiative under the La Jolla Foundation that provides money, mentoring, encouragement and education to areas of world tension. Most recently, Project Active provided soccer balls and jerseys to the children of Iraq, Haiti and Mexico. Thrower is a 17-time Ironman, and recent top ten finisher at the Keohoe Kona Half Ironman Triathlon.

Thrower holds a BA from Saint Lawrence University and an MBA from the University of San Diego, where he is the Entrepreneur in Residence.  He became a triathlete while cross-training to recover from four complicated knee surgeries. Thrower's father was the President of WPIX (Channel 11 in the NYC tri-state area) and was Vice President of Sales for NBC. He is best known for his creation of New York City's famous "Yule Log." Thrower's mother was one of Jacqueline Kennedy's executive assistants in New York.