TackleBar Team
Tim Healy
CEO
Tim has been around football his whole life, playing 4 years at St. John’s University, signing a free agent contract with the New Orleans Saints and coaching for 3 years at the Roseville, MN High School.
As a father of seven, he has also coached his three boys in over 10 seasons of youth football. This last season, Tim coached his son’s middle school team in the first season of TackleBar® Football.
With a passion and love for the game, Tim has learned many life lessons and made lifelong friends on and around the field. Tim feels strongly the game offers the opportunity to build both virtue and character. Perseverance, teamwork, brotherhood, and both mental and physical toughness are just a few of the areas that players develop.
Prior to TackleBar, Tim owned a medical device distributorship representing Medtronic Spine and Biologics.
Tim’s interest in TackleBar is offering a safer game that can and will encourage greater participation.
Brigid Ling
Founder and Vice President, Marketing
Brigid Ryan Ling boasts an extensive background in marketing and communications strategy. After working in account services at Fallon Advertising in Minneapolis, Brigid went on to serve as communications director for Horst Rechelbacher at Intelligent Nutrients. In 2006, Brigid founded Ryan-Ling, LLC, a communications consulting business that provides marketing, public relations, communications, website and branding services to small businesses.
As a mother of four football-loving children, Brigid saw firsthand the need for an innovative approach to the game that made it safer while still preserving the tradition and fundamentals. Combining her passion for business communications with her love of football, Brigid worked with husband, Jeremy, to found TackleBar® in 2016.
TJ Lally
Sales Representative
TJ credits the game of football for largely molding who he is today and spent most of ages 7 – 24 just waiting for it to be football season again. He grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago, attended Marmion Academy and started 4 years at linebacker for South Dakota State University where he met his wife, Abbi.
After deciding not to pursue a career in the NFL, he spent a successful year in SDSU’s athletic administration working in ticket sales and fundraising before deciding to return to Chicago and work in the energy industry. However, he couldn’t stay away from the game for long, and is very excited to be part of the TackleBar team, dedicated to protecting young athletes from significant injury while still preserving the integrity and tradition of the game. TJ hopes to help ensure that every young athlete has the same opportunity to experience football’s irreplaceable, positive impact he enjoyed, without the same medical risks.
Jack Roy
Area Sales Representative
Jack was born and raised in Lawrence, Massachusetts. As a decades-long small business owner, he has experience in sales, territory development and building customer relationships. Jack also has a passion for making a difference in the lives of children through organized sports. He has coached youth level hockey, baseball, girls’ softball and Junior football for over 30 years. In addition to coaching, he has also participated within school district organizations and other educational foundations.
Jack believes in giving back to the community through his volunteer efforts. These include non-profit and volunteer organizations such as Elder Service agencies, local school fundraising, local preservation efforts, and the Three Saints organization. Jack has been married to his wife Joan for 28 years and is the proud father of Taylor and Austin. As a cancer survivor, Jack believes life is truly a gift and through positive attitude and perseverance, many of our challenges can be overcome.
Jeremy Ling
Founder
Jeremy has spent his career leading the technology development initiatives of high tech medical device programs. He believes problem solving is a common ingredient in every innovation.
It’s that same deep-rooted problem solving methodology that led Jeremy to apply his engineering background to develop TackleBar® football. As a long time football coach and board member of a youth football association, Jeremy is a firm believer in the larger life lessons embedded in and taught through this great game. As Jeremy has witnessed first hand the impact that concussion and injury concerns have had on the sport, he felt compelled to search for solutions - and thus a project called TackleBar was born.
Jeremy’s goal is for TackleBar® Football to dramatically reduce both head injuries and all other injuries related to tackling, while at the same time preserving the fundamentals and spirit of the game.