Domestique Events Team
Our team is your team.
When your mission is to serve, to guide, and to inspire, you need the best people driving your vision forward.
Richard Fries, Co-Founder
With more than 45 years experience in cycling, Richard has been a racer, commuter, advocate, journalist and event announcer. He first organized a cycling event in 1980. He has helped produce more than a dozen UCI World Championships, more than 30 USA Cycling National Championships and countless other events including the Sea Otter Classic, Armed Forces Cycling Classic, the Providence Cyclo-cross Festival, the Pedro’s Mountain Bike Festival and countless others. As an advocate he served as the executive director for MassBike, the lead speaker at the National Bicycle Summit and as director of the Bicycle Leadership Conference. Since 2007 he has produced dozens of charity cycling events for Best Buddies International He lives in Arlington, Mass.
Glenn Stilwell, Co-Founder
Glenn has been part of Domestique Events in various roles from its inception until today. His background includes 20 years of running a small family business. During that time he also engaged in providing “live” event services for North America’s largest bicycle festival, the Sea Otter Classic. He has experience in sales, marketing and finance. He took on a second career nearly 20 years ago in the broadcast industry, providing engineering and management services to local, national and international broadcast networks. He has worked at Super Bowls, Stanley Cups, World Series, NBA Finals, FIFA World Cups and 7 Olympic games. He currently consults for Dolby Laboratories, ESPN, and AppleTV/MLBN. He is an executive committee member of the Digital Television Audio Group and served in the United State Marine Corps.
Ben Giust, Athlete Services
Ben has spent more than five years working in nonprofit development and event production. An avid runner since 2014, he didn’t start turning pedals until he joined Best Buddies International and worked with Richard Fries. Ben was instantly hooked on bikes after his first time experiencing one of Richard’s “perambulations”, which included navigating a section of defunct railway in total darkness to get home. “Nobody ever talks about the ride when everything went right,” he learned. A wizard with registration, customer relation management software and fundraising tools, Ben currently works for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and manages the Bike MS: Cape Cod Getaway, a two-day event. He lives in Brighton, Mass. with his wife, Melissa, who regularly and ruthlessly kicks his ass on the bike. Ben and Melissa have completed a 50-Mile ultramarathon and an IRONMAN 70.3 together and look forward to knocking out their first full IRONMAN 140.6 in 2023.iu
Eddie Medina, Media Coordinator
Joel “Ed” Medina is a Pulitzer prize-winning former journalist, digital pioneer, and communications expert with more than two decades of multimedia storytelling. He’s an avid cyclist, outdoors enthusiast and adventure lover. A native of Oklahoma, Ed covered stories big and small for the Associated Press before moving to New England to join the staff of The Boston Globe staffer. Ed led coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing, worked on the Spotlight team’s coverage of the priest sex abuse scandal, and being on the field when the Red Sox “broke the curse” to win the 2004 World Series. He developed Boston.com’s breaking news desk, and several immersive visual technologies. He transferred from the news industry in 2016 to provide content marketing for private clients and documentary services for nonprofits. He also provided coverage to countless cycling events in the Northeast. Surfing, ice climbing, fly fishing, rock climbing and cycling has drawn Ed all across North America. As a charity rider he joined top pros to complete several editions of Tim Johnson’s People for Bikes rides. He also serves as a Domestique for the Best Buddies Challenge rides. Ed lives in Lexington, Mass.
Perri Mertens, Graphic/Web Designer
Perri’s cycling career began the moment she threw her leg over the banana seat of her very first bike, the “Misty Rose.” An excitement that led to BMX racing as a kid, being a bicycle messenger in Boston throughout her 20s, followed by many years of racing road and cyclocross on the national elite level. In 2017, she joined 4 others and rode their bicycles across the USA on dirt roads in 84 days, raising funds and awareness for an organization that is pushing back powerfully against America’s high school drop-out crisis, and its disproportionate effect on our most disadvantaged students. Today she continues her passion for bicycles, by primarily riding gravel roads and seeking adventure in the unknown. When not riding bicycles or hiking mountains, Perri is a freelance graphic/web designer living in Center Harbor, New Hampshire.