We’re happy to confirm that Dr. David Martin is bringing his tremendous expertise to the svexa team. David has extensive and successful international experiences with both Olympic and professional sports teams, as well as science and health optimization. So he’ll provide invaluable contributions across our product portfolio – from Zone7 for team sport injury risk management, to ‘Improve the Nation’ projects, to svexa’s expansion into the wider domain of health and wellness. As David says:
“Svexa is building something in high performance I haven’t seen anywhere else – a network of talented authentic expertise that loves to solve problems.”
“What excites me most about svexa isn’t just what the problems they’re solving, it’s how they’re solving them. They’ve assembled this remarkable network of experts from Olympic sport, professional teams, clinical practice, software engineering and data science, and rather than keeping everyone in silos, they’ve created a culture where knowledge flows freely across domains.
I’ve spent three decades in high performance environments around the world, and I’ve never seen a company attract this caliber of expertise while remaining this collaborative and nimble. One day you’re helping elite teams understand training systems, the next you’re applying those insights to improve health outcomes for entire communities. Svexa’s cross-pollination is exceptional.
Most companies this innovative either burn out trying to do too much, or get so rigid they stop innovating. Svexa has somehow stayed hungry, curious, and genuinely fun to work with – which when you’re trying to solve complex problems across multiple continents and performance domains, might be their biggest competitive advantage. It’s rare to find a place where the science is rigorous, the mission is ambitious, and the people are enjoyable and full of life. That’s a winning combination.”
Svexa CEO Mikael adds “It’s crucial for svexa to hire team members who have a track record of success, deeply understand what it takes to reach the top, and also can break down and explain the building blocks needed to get there – David is the epitome of that description! He is also extremely curious, always open to and searching for the ‘next thing. On top of that, he’s a pretty pleasant and entertaining guy to be around.”
David is currently the Professor of Sport Technology & Performance at the University of Queensland, and the Head of Research & Innovation at the Queensland Academy of Sport. He was previously the Chief Scientist and Director of Performance for Apeiron Life, a Silicon Valley Concierge Health and Wellness Start-up. From 2015-2019 David was the Director of Performance Research & Development at the Philadelphia 76ers. David lived “down under” for 21 years where he had a lengthy career at the Australian Institute of Sport, taking on many high performance leadership roles as a Senior Physiologist. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role as the National Sport Science Coordinator for Cycling contributing to the Olympic teams that won eight gold, eight silver, and twelve bronze medals across five Summer Olympic Games. He was also the project leader for Cycling and Skeleton Talent Identification Projects and spearheaded the development of the AlS Combat Centre, an initiative designed to enhance international competitiveness in Australian Olympic combat sports such as boxing, taekwondo, wrestling and judo. His work at the AlS spanned a wide range of applied sport science research, including talent identification, training load, fatigue management, competition analysis, altitude training, and thermoregulation, resulting in over 125 peer-reviewed publications. David began his career at the AlS after earning his PhD in Zoology and Physiology from the University of Wyoming, and prior to that, worked as a research assistant at the United States Olympic Training Centre in Colorado Springs.
