BOULDER >> Jeremy Bloom, a Boulderite and former University of Colorado football standout who was tapped in late 2024 as the new CEO of the X Games, recently added a brand leader who has worked with Apple Inc. (Nasdaq: AAPL), Nike Inc. (NYSE: NKE), Peter Millar and Beats by Dre. to his roster of executives.

Kevin O’Connor, X Games’ new chief marketing officer, is the sixth executive that Bloom has hired since taking over leadership of the action sports-event series.

“The X Games is an iconic brand, and Kevin has the vision and pedigree to elevate it even further,” Bloom said in a prepared statement. “His creative instincts and track record building cultural relevance at the highest levels is exactly what we need as we reinvent the fan and athlete experience worldwide.”

O’Connor joins the X Games staff as the 30-year-old event series prepares to launch the X Games League, a team-based format set to debut in 2026.

“I’m incredibly honored to step into the CMO role at X Games — an iconic platform at the crossroads of sport, style, and youth culture,” O’Connor said in a statement. “This brand has always stood for innovation, and I’m excited to help write its next chapter.”

Prior to O’Connor’s hiring, Bloom recruited Cherie Cohen, most recently global chief revenue officer at World Surf League, to that same role with X Games, while corporate finance veteran Keith Senglaub joined the organization as its global chief financial officer.

Annie Lokesh, former WNBA business transformation director, recently joined the X Games team as its head of XGL, where she will “league operations, growth initiatives, and growth strategy, and the competitive structure of what will become a first-of-its-kind global action sports league,” ,according to an X Games news release.

The company also recently added Sarah Farnsworth, a former senior defense official with the U.S. Dept. of Defense and senior vice president for the San Diego Padres, as chief of staff and head of communications, and Tim Messner, formerly Dish Network’s general counsel, as chief legal officer.

An All-American kick returner for the Buffs, Bloom was a three-time world champion skier and an 11-time World Cup medalist when he earned his way onto the 2002 U.S. Olympic team to represent the nation in Salt Lake City.

There, he finished ninth. In 2006 at Turin, Italy, the Loveland High School graduate moved up to fourth.

Within the same week of failing to medal at Turin, he flew to Indianapolis for the annual NFL Scouting Combine — the tryout camp where young athletes display their abilities before the coaches and owners of NFL teams — and a month later, he was drafted in the sixth round by the Philadelphia Eagles. Injuries sidelined him there, and he ended up playing pre-season only.

He moved on to the Pittsburgh Steelers and was ultimately cut before appearing in a game.

In his latest venture, Bloom said that he is “excited to work with the team to further elevate the X Games and build the largest action sports leagues in the world, creating platforms that celebrate our athletes and inspire our fans around the world.”During his time at the NFL, he was enrolled at Wharton, the business school at the University of Pennsylvania, where his interest in business and technology grew.

Bloom then founded the Wish of Lifetime nonprofit, which fulfills wishes of senior citizens in their 80s, 90s and 100s, in 2008, and two years later embarked on his first private, for-profit venture: a business-to-business software firm called Integrate Inc.

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