Mark Sullivan Named RIA Summit Director

Mark brings over 30 years of experience in Run Specialty including founding The Running Event, Running Insight, and co-hosting his new podcast, Slingin’ Shoes.

Mark will help develop new programming for Summit, engage with brand partners, and grow and strengthen the Summit to be a premier event for RIA members and the run specialty channel.  

We look forward to sharing Summit updates as we continue planning for next year’s event. Stay tuned for 2027 Summit registration opening soon! In the meantime, save the date for May 3rd - 6th in Buckhead, Atlanta.

About Mark-

Mark Sullivan is a journalist and event organizer who has worked in the running space for more than 30 years. He started covering the running business as the editor of SportStyle magazine and later became group editor and publisher of SportStyle, Footwear News and Golf Pro Merchandiser.

He later joined VNU as group publisher over SGB and Sporting Goods Dealer and while there started the Elite Running Conference, a precursor to The Running Event, which was launched in 2005 when Mark and his partners started Formula4Media. 

Sullivan and his partners sold The Running Event and Running Insight to Diversified Communications in 2018. Since then he has stayed involved with the running business and also bought and later sold SBRnet, a sports data business that served the college market. At SBRnet, Sullivan and his partner Neil Schwartz founded Get in the Game, a conference that provides students at HBCUs and students of color with opportunities to learn more about careers in the sports business.

In 2023, Mark was inducted into The Run Specialty Hall of Fame.  In 2025, he began the Slingin' Shoes podcast about the running business which he co-hosts with Pacers owner Chris Farley. 

Mark is a graduate of the SI Newhouse school at Syracuse University. As a reporter at WWD, he won the Atrium Award for outstanding coverage of the American fashion industry. 

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