There’s been an outpouring of love and condolences this week following the news that Gregg Bagni — the former SVP of marketing at Schwinn, current partner at White Road Investments and president of Alien Truth Communications — died last weekend in a snowboarding accident on a heli trip in British Columbia.
“Our friend and partner Gregg Bagni has returned to the mother ship,” said a statement from Bagni’s family, friends and partners at White Road Investments. “He always said his alien friends would come back for him someday, and it turns out they did.”
Bagni brought a combination of creativity, curiosity and an otherworldly perspective to everything he touched, said the statement. As a partner at White Road Investments and founder of Alien Truth Communications, he spent decades helping founders build purpose-driven companies and reminding us all that the best brands come from people who care deeply about what they are building.
Rumpl’s Wylie Robinson on Impact of Gregg Bagni
Rumpl’s Wylie Robinson was one of those founders.
Robinson said he first met Bagni when he was raising capital for Rumpl in 2018. He was hesitant to bring private equity into the business, but Bagni immediately made a positive impression.
“On our first call, we spent the first hour talking about World Cup downhill mountain biking in the ’90s — a subculture that left an indelible mark on me growing up,” Robinson said in a post on LinkedIn that is reprinted on SESO with permission from Robinson. “In middle school my bedroom was covered with posters of riders that Gregg had signed and supported during his time at Schwinn — where he helped pull the business out of bankruptcy and into the No. 1 cycling brand in the USA. Obviously he was a capable and impressive executive, but in that moment he knew his role was to connect with me on a personal, human level before we even started talking about my business or term sheets.”
In addition to partnering with White Road, Bagni served on Rumpl’s board of directors for the past eight years.
“He was a mentor, a sounding board and a true friend,” Robinson said. “He was thoughtful, honest, creative, provocative and completely radiant.”
“Gregg had a rare ability to inspire others, challenge conventional thinking and make every room a little more interesting,” continued the statement from his family and friends. “He loved ideas, he loved people, and he loved this planet.”
Gregg Bagni: The Giver of Alien-Printed Socks
Sarah Crockett, currently chief marketing officer at children’s apparel retailer Carter’s, sat on the Rumpl board with Bagni for four years. She described his loss as heartbreaking.
Crockett was also one of the lucky recipients of the alien-printed socks Bagni would randomly send to friends and colleagues.
“I never knew if he was serious about his seemingly undeniable affection towards the alien kind or if it was something he simply leaned into as part of his personal brand,” Crockett told SESO. “Gregg would often surprise me with a little package, most often for no reason at all, and then sometimes as a form of gratitude for my participation in the White Road Investments marketing forums he hosted.”
“I’ll be keeping these socks as memories of Gregg and his unique footprint that he left on me, and the broader world lucky enough to meet him,” Crockett added.
Family and friends are grateful for the number of messages and calls they’ve received from the community and colleagues in the cycling, outdoor and natural foods worlds.
“Several people have asked about ways to gather and celebrate Gregg,” concluded the statement. “For now, we ask for a little time and space for those closest to him. We expect to share more details about a remembrance in the future.”
