Richard Lee
Richard is the Founder and President of Sport Squad, the parent company of JOOLA. Originally, he started North American Table Tennis while he was completing his Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science at the Johns Hopkins University. As a competitive table tennis player, he saw an opportunity in the market to develop software to help run tournaments more efficiently. This landed contracts with USA Table Tennis to manage their major competitions including the US Open, US National Championships, and Olympic Trials. Eventually, a need for a table tennis equipment became apparent and Richard partnered with JOOLA Germany, an established table tennis company based in Europe, to establish JOOLA North America in 2006 to be the sole distributor. In subsequent years, Richard branched out into product development - most notably, recreational table tennis tables, the iPong (table tennis robot), and various game room products via Sport Squad, LLC (established in 2012). More recently, the company made the strategic decision to acquire JOOLA Germany (formerly the global headquarters for JOOLA) in 2019. Richard's entrepreneurial spirit continued to thrive and in 2022, he made another pivotal decision to enter the pickleball market. In just the first year, JOOLA has made a huge impact on the sport, introducing new technology and equipment, in addition to signing the #1 ranked pickleball player in the world. Today, JOOLA is a recognized leader in both table tennis and pickleball in the US and around the globe.