To Your Health

One entrepreneur's quest for good health

"Some people say that to be successful as an entrepreneur, you have to let it totally consume you," says Mark Freitas, 42, president and CEO of Altiga Networks, a Franklin, Massachusetts, provider of virtual private networks. "I don't subscribe to that theory. My venture capitalists don't own me body and soul."

An avid runner who makes wellness a big part of Altiga, Freitas understands that to grow his young company--which he started in 1998 with co-founders Greg Marcotte and Keith Mader--he and his employees have to stay healthy.

"I learned a number of years ago that to be productive, I had to be physically active," says Freitas, who squeezes in five- to 10-mile runs at lunch time and, when traveling, selects hotels based on where they are and whether there's a fitness room with a treadmill. "That 45-minute period [when I run] helps me connect with some of the thorny issues I'm dealing with. I come back to the office ready to rock and roll."

To encourage company-wide wellness and peer support, Altiga sponsors an internal golf league, and the office kitchen is kept stocked with low-fat snacks.

And Freitas--who also finds peace by playing the trombone for a couple of community bands--likes to link up with other runners in 69-employee company for things like New Hampshire's annual Mount Washington run--a 7.6-mile uphill climb. One of the reasons Freitas chose Altiga's location was its proximity to a 900-acre state park, where employees walk, run and mountain bike, and he was sure to equip his building with showers.

"It's nice running a company because you can instill a healthy culture," says Freitas. "It's been positively received by my employees; you can see there's a lot of pride in being part of Altiga."

This article was originally published in the October 1999 print edition of Entrepreneur with the headline: To Your Health.