Eric Roza learned about CrossFit around 2009. A recreational runner, Eric was working his way up to an ultramarathon when he injured his anterior tibialis. Cutting back on the sport that had hurt his leg, he pivoted to CrossFit after reading an article on the emerging workout trend.
“I’ve always been a fitness nut,” Eric says. “I’m one of those people who needs to exercise to be in a good mood, be pleasant to the people around me and have energy.”
CrossFit was founded in California by Greg Glassman and Lauren Jenai a decade before Eric heard of it. The fitness regimen includes high-intensity strength and aerobic exercises derived from interval training, weightlifting and calisthenics.
“I had never done any of that stuff, but somehow I was attracted to it,” Eric says. Today, CrossFit boasts around 12,000 locations, nearly half of which are in the United States.
When one of Eric’s colleagues at Datalogix—a data company in Westminster, where Eric was chief executive—asked him to attend a CrossFit session with him, “it was love at first sight,” Eric says. “I was humbled by the first workout. It was like nothing I’d experienced before.”
With Datalogix’s fitness initiative budget, Eric invited CrossFit trainers to the office twice a week to improve workplace morale and productivity.
“People quit smoking. One person lost 80 pounds,” Eric says. Some of these employees had rarely worked out previously, and their CrossFit trainers adjusted workouts to their abilities. “I quickly sensed that CrossFit was a couple things: It built a great community, and it was authentically aligned with my values of helping people be healthy and happy.”
So in January 2013, Eric founded CrossFit Sanitas in Boulder at 2525 Arapahoe Avenue. CrossFit licenses their name to gyms after an initial $1,000, two-day certification process, followed by a $3,000 annual fee.
In addition to owning CrossFit Sanitas, Eric is a Level 2 CrossFit Trainer, which, naturally, follows Level 1 training. (Eric estimates there are more than 100,000 Level 1 CrossFit trainers worldwide.) Eric became a Level 2 Trainer after taking Level 1 and Level 2 CrossFit courses, where participants learn how to improve others’ movements in their coached classes, regardless of fitness level or infirmity. At Boulder’s CrossFit location, Eric has seen participants from ages 5 to 75 working out.
“I’ve never seen that anywhere else,” Eric says. CrossFit is, “by nature, non-hierarchical. You can find people from different cultures, education levels, socioeconomic statuses, ages and fitness levels all working out together.”
In June 2020, CrossFit’s CEO Greg Glassman resigned, following a controversial tweet and Zoom call. This led to hundreds of CrossFit gyms threatening disaffiliation, on top of gym bankruptcies and closings caused by the pandemic. Half of the leading professional CrossFit athletes boycotted the annual CrossFit Games, the sport’s version of the Olympics.
“CrossFit was in need of a new direction,” Eric says. Having sold Datalogix to Oracle in 2014 for a reported $1.2 billion, Eric was contemplating his future when this opportunity arose. Glassman agreed to sell him the company, which Eric moved to Boulder, and brought in investment firm Berkshire Partners as his financial partner.
“There’s a lot of diversity in the CrossFit community—millions of people in 155 countries—and they all have different views,” Eric says. “The challenge was: How can we make it clear that we are first and foremost about inclusivity and welcoming everyone?”
In February of this year, Eric announced his transition from CrossFit’s CEO to board chairman. This move aligned with Eric’s initial intention to work through the turnaround and move on.
Outside of CrossFit’s board of directors, Eric works for private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, where he serves as an operating managing director. He also remains committed to building fitness in the Boulder community and just renewed the CrossFit Sanitas lease for another five years.
“I love the Boulder lifestyle,” Eric says of his affinity for skiing, hiking and mountain biking, plus doing CrossFit at his very own location.