Nine13sports is thrilled to welcome Nathan Smurdon to our Kids Riding Bikes team today as our Business Development Director. Throughout his career, Nathan’s leadership and experience in sales, marketing, entrepreneurship, and cycling has positively impacted Indianapolis as a desirable and popular location for hospitality and tourism.
Nathan’s background includes being the Founder of ActiveIndy Tours, a city tour company specializing in exploring urban Indianapolis at “the human pace.” Their walking, running, and biking tours are conducted at a casual pace and with frequent stops with their storytellers share the passion and lore of the city.
Prior to creating ActiveIndy, Nathan spent nearly a decade working for Visit Indy on the convention sales team that drove unprecedented levels of growth in the local hospitality industry. He became a trusted advisor to organizations looking to hold conventions, trade shows & sporting events in Indy by working to understand the unique aspects of their event and match them with local businesses that could help them exceed their goals. Along the way he served on local organizing committees for the 2006 & 2007 USA Track & Field National Championships, 2006 NCAA Final Four and the 2012 NFL Super Bowl.“I’m excited to join the Nine13sports team for a number of reasons – the fire and foremost being that I’ll have an opportunity to spend some time at our programming sites interacting with the kids,” said Smurdon. “The joy created by their interaction with our bicycles and programming is very real. For some it comes easily because they’re already familiar with being on a bike, but for many there is a bit of a struggle because they haven’t been on a bike very often – or sometimes not even at all. Having a chance to meet each student where they are and use the bicycle to help them grow their confidence is definitely going to be a highlight. Also, I’m looking forward to being able to take these firsthand experiences from the field and share them with our current prospective community partners as we work to grow Nine13 and extend our reach to impact more kids. Empowering these students ultimately helps to grow a stronger community and I can’t wait to find new partners that want to join us as we push toward this goal.”
Nathan is a graduate of Butler University where he earned his BS in Chemistry and an MBA in Marketing & Leadrship. While there he was also a student-athlete on the Cross Country and Track & Field teams. He hails from Valparaiso, Indiana and currently resides in downtown Indianapolis with his wife Melissa and daughter Kendall.