OUR TEAM

Jeff Rich

Jeff Rich

Rich co-founded the America’s Best Bootfitters/Masterfit/SKI Magazine on-hill alpine ski boot testing program in 1987 and has been an active tester since the program’s inception. He is also co-founder of Masterfit University, the snowsports industry’s premier bootfit training program.   While no longer an active member of the instructional staff, Rich remains an integral part of the company. He heads Masterfit’s R&D operations and is the creative force behind the company’s insole, fit aid, and tool products.

A Board Certified Pedorthist since 1983, he also owns and operates the New York City-based U.S. Orthotic Center, a leader in advanced fitting techniques and orthotic and footbed manufacturing. USOC is currently the exclusive custom orthotic provider to the New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets. USOC has additionally fabricated orthotics for numerous athletes from Major League Baseball, Major League Soccer, the international tennis and golf tours and the US Olympic team.

He has written extensively about ski boots and fitting issues and also written for Biomechanics Magazine.  He has presented for the Pedorthic Footcare Association (PFA) and the Professional Ski Instructors of America.

Rich holds seven U.S. patents including three for orthotic designs. He was recently appointed to the Board of Directors and serves on the Educational Committee at the PFA. He also heads the pedorthic lab and teaches pedorthics at Hamad Hospital in Qatar.

Mark Elling

Mark Elling

Elling has been testing boots professionally since 1997, and he currently manages all boot test operations. He authors the boot reviews for America’s Best Bootfitters website and the Masterfit, RealSkiers Buyers Guide. He is Masterfit University Training Centers (MFU) curriculum director and staff manager of the MFU bootfitting workshops in the U.S., Europe and Australia. Elling winters as a full-time bootfitter at Gravity Sports at Mt. Bachelor and at Masterfit Tech-Center #1 in Bend, Oregon. A former board-certified Pedorthist, author of The All-Mountain Skier: The Way to Expert Skiing and current level III PSIA Alpine instructor, he can be found windsurfing or surfing when he’s not skiing– anywhere from the Columbia River Gorge to Coolangatta, Australia.

Bob Gleason

Bob Gleason

Gleason is founder and was long time director of the BootDoctors in Telluride, CO., where he continues to fit boots by appointment during ski season. For 45 years he has been teaching the science and art of fitting boots to retailers. Skiing has been his passion since he was a toddler. It is a rare day when the lifts are spinning that he is not on the mountain. When a skier comes into the BootDoctors, gives him a hug and exclaims; “That was the best day I have had in my life thanks to these boots,” it gives him reason to live. In the off-season, Gleason is often found running rivers (he just completed his 25th private trip on the Grand Canyon in his dory), pedalling his bikes and travelling the country in his Sprinter camping van.

Charlie Bradley

Charlie Bradley

Bradley has worked in the ski industry since the mid-80s. He moved to Taos Ski Valley, New Mexico in 1992 to work for the Bootdoctors where he has been lucky to work with a bunch passionate skiers and bootfitters. Along side being one of Masterfit University’s lead gurus, Bradley also tests ski boots for America’s Best Bootfitters. In the off-season he enjoys surfing, fly fishing, tennis, and volleyball among other things.

Jason Barcoff

Jason Barcoff

Jason has spent his entire career helping individuals achieve their athletic goals. He has a robust background in ski coaching, bike fitting, and pre-hospital medical care and education. He is currently the principal of Fit Lab Sports and lead fit specialist at Piermont Bike in Piermont, NY. He is an International Bike Fitting Institute level 4 bike fitter and has performed more than 5,000 bike fits. He has been a US Ski and Snowboard Assn. coach and official since 1992 and is currently a coach with the New York Ski Educational Foundation. He is also the Executive Consultant for Masterfit’s Cycle Division product and educational projects, and a member of the National Association of EMS Educators and the International Society of Biomechanics in Sport. He holds certifications in Functional Movement Screening and from the National Academy of Sports Medicine.

Kevin Gabriel

Kevin Gabriel

Gabriel is a veteran ski boot tester for America’s Best Bootfitters and a bootfitter/technician/salesperson at Gravity Sports at Mt. Bachelor Bend, OR with over 20 years of experience. He is a snowboard and alpine bootfitting instructor at Masterfit University. He has a background in competitive hockey and splits his time between skis and a snowboard, depending on conditions. One of our favorite photo subjects at boot test, he flies high and far. Gabriel is also an avid fly fisher and steelhead bum.

Julie Kehoe

Julie Kehoe

Julie Kehoe is a university-trained architect, but followed her passion and has been a ski industry lifer since 2007. She began in shop retail ops and bootfitting and has worked in shops in Vermont, Michigan and New Zealand as a bootfitter, hardgoods and tech department manager. She currently splits her time between bootfitting and ski coaching. She is head ski coach/director at Cranbrook High School, a private institution in Bloomfield, MI and also coaches at BD Performance Racing at Mt. Hood, OR. She is a USSA Certified Ski Coach, USSA Referee Level 1 and USSA Chief of Course Level 1.

Kevin Flynn

Kevin Flynn

Flynn is a lifelong ski enthusiast who has worked in the snowsports industry since 2001. Originally from Maine, he moved to Colorado in 2007 to pursue greater opportunities in the ski retail industry. As an alpine department lead for Epic Mountain Gear at its Littleton and Lone Tree locations for 14 years, he was responsible for bootfitter training. He is currently a manager at Boot Mechanics in Golden, CO with a specialty in boot modification and insole construction.  He joined Masterfit as an associate instructor in 2023. When not skiing, he enjoys hiking and camping in the mountains of Colorado as well as wake surfing and cycling.
Pat Sullivan

Pat Sullivan

Sullivan is the senior ski boot fitter at Jackson Hole Sports in Jackson, WY. He has been a board-certified Pedorthist since 2009 and started working in the ski industry in 1998. He owned Alpine Pro Performance boot fitting lab in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, for eight years. Sullivan also has an extensive background in medical pedorthics and has worked for orthotics and prosthetics facilities in Washington and Idaho. A Masterfit instructor since 2004, he is a veteran ski boot tester for America’s Best Bootfitters. When he isn’t fitting boots, you will find Pat on the slopes nearly every winter day and mountain biking during the warmer months.

Jeremy Johnston

Jeremy Johnston

Johnston is the owner of Boot Mechanics in Golden, CO, and an instructor for Masterfit University. A devoted, lifetime skier and competitive racer for six years, when he’s not at his shop you can find him skiing on his home mountain, Vail.

Ned Buckley

Ned Buckley

Buckley is a podiatric surgeon and bootfitter who has worked in the snowsports bootfitting in Australia, the United Kingdom, the USA and Japan since 2001. He has owned and operated Boot Solutions custom ski and snowboard boot fitting stores on Hokkaido, Japan since 2006.  When not fitting boots during northern hemisphere winters, he spends his summers in Perth, Western Australia, where he runs a podiatric surgery practice and is also a Senior Lecturer at the University of Western Australia teaching podiatry and foot surgery.
Joey Stanco

Joey Stanco

Joey started working in the snow industry in 2004. A Snowboarder from New York, Joey landed a gig at the Boot Doctors in Telluride Colorado and has persued a passion for Bootfitting and problem solving. Currently residing in the Snowy Mountains of Australia and running his boutique Bootfitting shop located in Myoko over the northern winter (Joey’s Myoko), Joey specialises in both ski & snowboard bootfitting and brings a different perspective to the industry.

Christian Sigvartsen

Christian Sigvartsen

Sigvartsen is the head bootfitter at Steep & Deep. A special ski shop, and the official collaborator to the Danish power center for race skiers. Located north of Copenhagen, Denmark, Christian specializes in off-mountain bootfitting, working only by appointment. Christian is known for his uncompromising approach to make the boot fit before sending his customers 1400 km away to ski the boots. Christian has been working in outdoor and ski shops since 1996 and has been working with bikefitting in the summer season since 2012.

Fabi Steipel

Fabi Steipel

Steipel started bootfitting at 16 in Garmisch Partenkichen. Next, moved to Aspen, Colorado to improve my fitting skills. After Aspen it was into the world cup business for 6 years. Then a few months with Jim Schaffner at The Start Haus in Truckee, California. After that, one year with Dalbello to develop the Scorpion (DRS) race boot. He is also part of the Fischer vacuum engineering team. For the past 4 years, he has been head bootfitter for Tecnica and Nordica based at Giavera del Montello, Italy for Manfred Pranger, Reinfried Herbst, Tanja Poutianinen, Victoris Rebensburg, Nicole Hosp and the one and only Marcel Hirscher. His athletes have won 2 Olympic gold medals and 1 World Championship gold medal, as well as, 3 World Cup Globes in slalom and giant slalom.

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