—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Daniel Michael Walsh was born in Norwalk, Connecticut to Jim and Dana Walsh of Brooklyn, New York. The youngest of four children by nine years, Dan grew up entertaining himself with TV, comic books and video games. Sports were not of interest to young, skinny Danny Walsh. He was a mediocre athlete and became a typical "kid on the couch." It wasn't until the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games where he saw rowing on TV and decided to get off the couch and on the water. Just two years into the sport, Walsh was invited to his first U.S. Junior National Camp.
In 2001, Walsh attended Northeastern University in Boston and majored in Sports Medicine & Exercise Physiology. Throughout his collegiate career, Walsh played an integral role on a self-proclaimed “blue collar” rowing team, the Northeastern Huskies. Notorious underdogs, the Huskies fought to become worthy rivals of the top Ivy league crews like Princeton, Yale and their rivals on the Charles River, Harvard. Walsh’s tenacity and sheer power helped lead the Huskies to successful finishes at the Eastern Sprints and IRA National Championship Regatta. Walsh is the only oarsman in the history of Northeastern men’s rowing to be so decorated. In the summer of 2009, he was inducted into the Northeastern Varsity Club Hall of Fame.
In 2001, Walsh made his debut on the U.S. National Rowing Team, where he would compete internationally for the next 12 years. In 2004, Dan participated as an alternate in the Athens Olympic Games, where the men's eight won first place. With a gold medal just out of his reach, Walsh became even more driven and focused, fueling his fire to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. After seven continuous years of arduous training and sacrifice, Walsh realized his dream of Olympic glory by earning a bronze medal in 2008. After the Games, Walsh was awarded a rare key to the City of Norwalk and a proclamation of “Dan Walsh Day” from the Governor of Connecticut.
Dan’s professional career began as an entrepreneur and co-founder of Engine Room Fitness. Walsh used his personal training experience and exercise physiology degree to open an indoor rowing gym and fitness center in San Diego, California in 2009. After his retirement from professional rowing, Walsh co-founded Myrmidon Expeditions with three U.S. military veterans, in order to revive his former lifestyle of performing at elite levels of competition. He serves as Chief Innovation Officer at Myrmidon today.
In 2012, Dan returned to his alma mater Northeastern University as Assistant Coach, helping the NU Huskies reach collegiate success during his tenure, including a silver medal at Eastern Sprints and a strong showing at the IRA Championships final. He was also Director of Athlete Engagement and Sports Legacy at Boston 2024, the organizing body that attempted to bring the Olympics to Boston.
Today, Walsh is Director of High Performance and Development at Maritime Rowing Club, an organization dedicated to competitive and recreational rowing for all ages and abilities. He is proud to return to his hometown of Norwalk, now coaching on the same river he rowed as a teenager, under former coach and mentor Yan Vengerovskiy. In 2018, Walsh helped the club win two gold medals at the USRowing Youth National Championships.
Of all of Walsh’s impressive accomplishments, he is most proud to be a father to his daughters Stella & Circe. Walsh lives in Norwalk with his wife of six years, Keri. In his free time, Dan enjoys going hiking, camping, surfing and just enjoying the simplicity of the outdoors... no racing required.
In what looks to me like one of the biggest overcommitments of guests on this podcast and participants in the Spodek Method, Dan shares that to free his mind for meditation, he ended up selling his motorcycle and Playstation. Then we spoke about coaching and leading people to reach their potentials, which he experienced on the receiving end in reaching the Olympics twice and does now with others, and he appreciates me doing in corporations and on sustainability. You'll hear we both admire each other and are learning from each other. A curious note: you'll hear me puzzled at his tone, which I couldn't place. It didn't convey the sense of accomplishment and freedom his words did. We're still getting to know each other. I also think he expects acting more sustainably to take more time and money, when I find it frees both.
If learning what it's like to watch your team win an Olympic gold medal from the sidelines isn't enough, and if learning what it's like to grow up in a family beset with poverty and addiction before reaching Olympic level competition isn't enough, and if learning what it's like after four more years to win an Olympic medal isn't enough, I'd say the best part of our conversation comes after all that. Then we talk about bringing out the best in others as a coach. How do you find out how to coach each person, athlete, executive, or otherwise? How to you lead a team to give to their potential? How do you keep everyone motivated? How do you keep yourself motivated? We both deeply appreciate each other's experience. You'll hear us trying to learn from each other. I want to learn how to shift sustainability, which everyone gives lip service to, from trying to avoid losing to winning by having fun, giving everything we've got, learning our deepest values, and acting on them. Dan does those things.