Pair two of Anton Mack’s driving forces — action and innovation — with his “overwhelming desire to support our community” and you get a sense of why he agreed to become executive director of Explore Bike Share.
“I’m thrilled to be in the role,” said Mack, who was named executive director earlier this week. The Memphis nonprofit is a shared mobility system that operates 600 bikes, 200 seated OjO scooters and 90 docking stations across the city’s core.
“I’ve experienced the success of Explore Bike Share’s entry into the Memphis market close to two years ago, and I’m encouraged by the opportunities at hand to cultivate and advance our goals of inviting more riders to discover Explore Bike Share and more sponsors to support its mission,” said Mack.
Mack was born and raised in Annapolis, MD, where his first job as a teenager was repairing and selling bikes at a neighborhood bike shop. He went to college at Johns Hopkins, continued his graduate studies at Harvard, and later completed an MBA at ESCP Europe in Paris.
After 20 years in Los Angeles and a few years in Europe, he planted roots in Memphis.
Previously, Mack led several academic and legal administrative departments to award-winning results in both national and international arenas, serving as assistant dean for Admissions at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles, managing director of Global Talent for worldwide operations at Paul Hastings law firm, and became an internationally-rated brevet judge for men’s gymnastics after a gymnastics career of his own.
He currently serves on the boards of Memphis River Parks Partnership, Indie Memphis, and the Downtown Memphis Commission’s Center City Development Corporation as well as its Anti-Blight and Retail Strategy committees. Mack is immediate past president of the South Main Association and, in 2018, founded Century House, a professional development center and European-style social club for business leaders and entrepreneurs.
“Anton has demonstrated expertise in designing highly organized management systems, cultivating networks of corporate and foundation donors, motivating and evaluating staff performance, and reducing costs while generating substantial growth with greater efficiencies,” said Doug McGowen, board chair of Explore Bike Share.
Mack will oversee Explore Bike Share’s staff and work collaboratively with the board of directors and key Memphis leaders to continue to execute the nonprofit’s strategies to grow the system’s ridership reach and revenue sources.
The 501(c)3 was founded in May 2018, introducing bikes as an affordable and accessible transportation option in Memphis neighborhoods including South Memphis, the Medical District, Cooper Young, Orange Mound, Downtown, and West Memphis, Arkansas.
Explore Bike Share expanded upon its mission in 2019 with OjO, Memphis’ first seated scooter that currently operates a 250-scooter fleet. The organization has plans to expand and introduce its presence into neighborhoods in 2020, including Binghampton.
For more information, visit explorebikeshare.com.
