Concept2 marks half a century in Morrisville under a purpose trust
Photo: Nick3488, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Most people who have used a rowing machine at a gym, a CrossFit box or a college boathouse have pulled on one built in Morrisville. Concept2, the Lamoille County company behind the indoor rower that became an industry standard, marks its 50th year in 2026, and it reaches that milestone with an ownership setup few manufacturers have tried.
Since Jan. 1, 2025, Concept2 has been owned by a perpetual purpose trust. The structure is designed to keep the company independent and focused on its stated mission and its employees, rather than putting it up for sale to an outside buyer when the founders step back.
Two brothers and a better oar
The company’s story starts with oars, not machines. Brothers Dick and Peter Dreissigacker, both competitive rowers, began experimenting with carbon fiber oars in 1975. In 1976 they founded Concept2 with Bari Dreissigacker, working out of a dairy barn in northern Vermont on a farm they bought that November. Judy Geer, an Olympic rower, joined later and is counted among the co-founders.
Their oars made a quick impression. In 1977, U.S. rowers including Anita DeFrantz raced with the brothers’ carbon shafts. Carbon fiber oars, light and stiff, would eventually replace wood across competitive rowing.
The rowing machine came next. Like many rowers, the brothers wanted a way to train when the water was frozen. Their first indoor rower, the Model A, went on sale in the fall of 1981. It was a simple design built around a bicycle wheel, but it measured work in a way rowers could compare. In 1982, a group of Boston-area rowers organized the first CRASH-B Sprints, an indoor rowing race that has since become the sport’s best-known indoor championship.
In 1984, Concept2 moved to Morrisville. The company had 12 employees at the time.
Going beyond the boathouse
Concept2 kept working on the water as well. In 1991 it introduced the “Big Blade” oar, a hatchet-shaped design that changed how rowers pulled and spread rapidly through elite racing. By the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, the new blades were in wide use among the crews racing for medals.
On land, successive generations of the indoor rower moved from boathouses into health clubs, physical therapy clinics, fire stations and homes. The company later expanded its machine lineup with the SkiErg in 2009, the BikeErg in 2017 and the StrengthErg, introduced in February 2025.
Each machine shares the same basic approach: an air-resistance flywheel and a performance monitor that lets users compare their results with others worldwide through the company’s online logbook. That shared measurement has helped build a large community of indoor rowers who post times and enter virtual challenges.
Why a trust
Founder-led companies often face a hard choice when the people who started them begin to retire. Selling to a competitor or private equity firm can bring a large payday but can also mean layoffs, relocation or a change in mission. Passing the business to family is not always possible.
A perpetual purpose trust offers a third path. The trust owns the company and is bound to a written purpose, rather than serving outside shareholders. Concept2’s move puts it among a small but growing group of American businesses using this model, which has drawn interest from companies that want to stay put in the communities where they were built.
For Morrisville, that matters. The company has described the trust as a commitment to long-term stewardship, which in practice means the question of a future sale to an outside buyer is off the table, and the manufacturing stays in a small Vermont town.
Co-founder Judy Geer tied the company’s longevity to the people who use its products. “At its core, Concept2 has always been about community,” she said in a January statement announcing the anniversary. “The people who use our products and believe in what we do are the reason we’re here 50 years later.”
Fifty years on
Half a century after two brothers set out to build a better oar, Concept2’s products are used by Olympians and by people who have never sat in a boat. The company’s machines are a fixture in fitness facilities worldwide, and its oars are still used on racing shells.
The company is marking the year with a 50th anniversary challenge, community stories and limited-edition apparel. Details are posted at concept2.com.
