Board of Directors Highlight - Jimmy Sopko

Jimmy Sopko is one of the four athlete representatives on the Board. He grew up in Mathews, Va. Fortunately, the small and rural town of Mathews had a rowing team. He joined the rowing team his freshman year and never looked back. Racing for Mathews High School and Mobjack Rowing Association led Sopko to row one year at the Gunnery School and then to the Naval Academy. While at the Naval Academy, he sat seven seat in the 2004 undefeated Navy Lightweight Varsity Crew, winning Eastern Sprints and the IRA.

After graduating from the Naval Academy in 2005, Sopko served on USS FORD as Communications Officer and then Navigator. He deployed to Southeast Asia and South America. In the winter of 2008 and into 2009, he had the opportunity to train under Bryan Volpenhein at the Pocock Rowing Center through the US Navy Sports Program. After Pocock and leaving the Navy, he trained with the US team in Princeton, Oklahoma City and Chula Vista. He was selected to the 2009, 2010 and 2011 US National Teams. The 2009 crew won a silver medal in the LM8+.

After rowing, Sopko settled down with his wife, Shaunnah (Navy Women's Coxswain), in Menlo Park, Calif. They have three children: Addison (5), Brooks (3) and Makenna (6 mo). After two startups, he's enjoying working in enterprise sales at Google Cloud. In his spare time you can find him running around with his kids, competing in marathons and triathlons and serving on the USRowing Board.