Park City Advocate Tim Akers Wins National Bicycle Leadership Award

Tim Akers, founder of Park City digital marketing firm Akers Digital, made history at the Bicycle Leadership Conference in Dana Point, California, becoming the first media and digital professional ever to receive the event's Outstanding Service Award at the BLC Honors and BPSA Awards dinner.

Akers was recognized for both his professional work and seven-plus years of volunteer contributions to the national cycling advocacy community. His agency has built e-commerce solutions for major bike and outdoor brands, while he has simultaneously served on three PeopleForBikes working groups and subcommittees, including a seven-year tenure on the Membership Event Education and Marketing committee. He also helped launch the Apparel Working Group and has contributed to the BLC Content Committee.

"I was completely surprised and deeply honored to be recognized," Akers said. "To be up on that stage sharing the moment with so many great icons of the cycling industry was incredibly humbling."

The Outstanding Service Award recognizes individuals whose dedication and leadership have significantly advanced the bicycle industry. PeopleForBikes, the U.S. bicycle industry's trade association, represents more than 340 supplier members and nearly 1.4 million individual supporters. That Akers, a Park City entrepreneur whose firm focuses on outdoor, action sport and tourism brands, broke the pattern of the award going to traditional manufacturing and retail figures reflects a broader industry acknowledgment of digital strategy's growing role in cycling.

Akers Digital has operated out of Park City since Akers founded it in 2015, embedding the firm within the outdoor recreation culture that defines the community. His work sits at an intersection the city increasingly cares about: Park City has made trail infrastructure, bike safety and year-round active transportation central to both its quality-of-life planning and its tourism identity.

The conference ran March 17 through 20 at the Laguna Cliffs Marriott Resort in Dana Point, drawing the bicycle industry's most senior leadership for sessions focused on market forces, public policy, innovation and data. Akers was honored alongside Ken Lousberg, CEO of SRAM, who received the Catalyst Award, and Amy Koch, Director of Mass Sales at Revelyst, who was named the PeopleForBikes Foundation Award winner.

For Park City's cycling and business communities, the recognition carries weight beyond the ceremony. Visibility at a conference of that scale can strengthen local fundraising for trail improvements and reinforce the city's emerging reputation as a place where outdoor recreation expertise is cultivated at a professional level, not just enjoyed on weekends.