At its height of popularity in the 1970s, skateboarding is often assumed a forgotten trend for many. But on the brink of making its Summer Olympics debut in Tokyo in 2020, the adventurous sport is seeing an uprising in popularity in cities across the United States and even the world -- from Minneapolis, Minnesota where technology businessman Dan Fitzgibbons lives to Cape Coral, Florida and more.

Skate parks are seeing a reinvestment currently -- including in Cape Coral where annual maintenance is approximately $30,000 as of late as usage increases since the project was built in 2005. The Tony Hawk Foundation aims toward supporting skateboarding as a sport, particularly for youth in low-income areas and big cities where recreational opportunities are fewer. Its website states, “Skateparks draw visitors of all ages, from all walks of life. The skatepark becomes a terrific place to find people with similar interests, and most lifelong skateboarders have great friends that they met while skateboarding. In skateparks we see parents skating with their kids, young people offering tips to older folks, poor folks skating with wealthy folks, and so on. Skateparks are where people go to have fun and challenge themselves in a safe, appropriate environment … with their friends and within their community.” This adventurous sport is ideal for family men like Dan Fitzgibbons who want to enlist everyone in a wholesome activity of excitement that’s gaining traction year over year and could, just maybe, gain someone an Olympic medal one day.

Most who know him are aware that Daniel Edward Fitzgibbons has more than 25 years of technology and sales experience, and that he knows the business of computer storage systems. It is, after all, his business. He currently serves as Data Protection Business Manager for the Minneapolis, Minnesota office of EMC Corporation, a 37-year-old company that has grown into a very important international technology company, producing revenue of more than $24 billion so far in 2016 and employing more than 70,000 globally.



As important as business is to him, family and community have also been important to Daniel Edward Fitzgibbons. He grew up in Fargo, North Dakota, where he was the youngest of five children and where he attended grade school and high school. He also has a significant educational background, including a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Business Administration from Moorhead State University just over the border in Minnesota.

Eventually, Daniel Edward Fitzgibbons moved to Minneapolis, to work with EMC, and he is now married and has two children, which is why he feels strongly about the Greater Minneapolis region and considers it his community, to the point that he tries to give back whenever he can. For instance, he helps the poor and homeless in the Twin Cities with his work with Bridging, which provides those transitioning out of homelessness with basic household items and he helps feed the hungry by working with Loaves and Fishes. That charity serves hundreds of thousands of hot, nutritious meals to the hungry annually.