2012 Board of Directors
Board Meetings
Cascade's Board of Directors meets at 5:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every odd-numbered month at our Sand Point office. Meetings are open to the public; meeting minutes are posted online here.
Position Descriptions
 Board of directors position descriptions
Committees (chair):
Executive (Daniel Weise)
Compliance (Charles Ruthford)
Development (Bill Ptacek)
Finance (Michael Snyder)
Governance (Daniel Weise)
Bylaw update (Daniel Weise)
Task forces (chair):
Daniel Weise, President
 Wheels: Rodriguez S3 Steel Bike, Rodriquez "Willie Weir" UTB bike, 1979 Trek 520 Touring Bike.
Rides: Variations on the "7 Hills of Kirkland" route for short rides, longer rides take me to Duvall, Monroe, Snohomish, Everett, etc. I prefer cycling the more rural roads to the more urban roads. The century Flying Wheels route is one of my local favorites. I also like the endorphins that result from a good climb.
About Daniel: Dr. Daniel Weise is a recovering academic computer scientist, though he relapses frequently to keep up with the general scientific literature, mostly Science and Nature. While a professor in the Computer Systems Lab at Stanford, he did the usual academic things like writing papers, serving on program committees, and coercing doctoral students to finish their degrees. He came to Seattle in 1992 to be part of what was then a nascent Microsoft Research to build and lead a research group on programming tools, and left Microsoft in 2004 to follow his interests in genetics, biology, and evolution. Unfortunately, Dr. Weise's scientific training left him susceptible to deeply understanding the physics of climate change and dynamical systems, as well as how the process of science itself requires that the actual threat of catastrophic and sudden climate change be understated. Bicycling itself emits no fossil carbon, and it take far, far less energy to build a bicycle than build a car.
Daniel is also on the board of Climate Solutions and various private foundations. He also serves on Pacific Science Center's Science Education Advisory Committee, and served on the board of the Hertz Foundation, which grants graduate fellowships in the applied physical sciences.
Daniel thinks the club is doing great, though it seems to have had too many hiccups lately (he is still unhappy about RSVP registration process in January, though he is a fan of the solution for that problem). He would like to see the club continue and expand its work on advocacy to improve cycling for everyone. Advocacy changes laws to work better on behalf of cyclists and allocates public resources to building shared and dedicated infrastructure for making cycling safer and more appealing to a much broader swath of potential riders. He wishes he could do something about the weather so we could have more dry riding days, but has discovered that that is beyond our control.
Top
 Don Volta, Vice-President
Wheels: Calfees – Dragonfly; Tetra; and a Tetra with S&S couplers.
Rides: Don and his wife, Jane, lead 15 – 20 Cascade rides a year and participate in many more, accumulating over 4,000 miles each year. Regular event rides include RSVP, RAW, Flying Wheels and RAMROD. They travel to Europe for cycling a couple of times each year and cycle with the Bicycle Adventure Club on stateside tours.
About Don: Don is a Seattle U graduate with a BS in Business. He received an ROTC commission and served in the Army for 25 years. Along the way he received an MBA from UW and graduated from the US Army War College. After he retired from the Army, he worked for General Motors in their Defense business units, retired again after 10 years and then returned home to the Seattle area in 1997.
Don started riding after retirement and joined Cascade in 2001. After becoming a Ride Leader and finding satisfaction in helping other riders, Don joined the Daily Rides Committee and found a way to give back even more to the Club. He has served in several positions, including Rides Committee Chair and for the last four years, he has managed the Cascade Training Series (CTS). Don was on the Cascade Board in 2010 but resigned to focus on CTS.
As an avid road bike rider who rides for fun, fitness and friendship and with a long involvement in the Cascade's Rides and Events, Don's focus on the Board is to ensure that Cascade continues to grow as the preeminent promoter of cycling events and daily rides in the Pacific Northwest. Cascade needs to increase ride and event offerings and focus on participant satisfaction and safety. Being able to cycle with others on almost any day of the year is why our riding members join and stay with Cascade. Rides and Events provides the membership base, funding, and other resources needed to sustain and grow our Advocacy, Education and Transportation initiatives essential to building a better community through cycling.
Top
Michael Snyder, Treasurer
 Wheels: Bianchi Volpe plus a variety of backup bikes
Rides: After selling his car over 5 years ago, Michael is on his bicycle for commuting or running errands most days all year long. Michael is like the postal service:– neither rain, nor snow, nor sleet, nor hail can keep him off his bike! His standard daily commute is 2.5 miles from his home to his office. He appreciates the energy and experience of the Cascade event rides and has participated in multiple years of the STP and Chilly Hilly, as well as enjoying his first trip out of the country for the 2009 RSVP.
About Michael: Michael is as a quality assurance manager at a software company in Fremont, and he lives with his wife in Ballard.
Michael is passionate about the work and mission of Cascade and has volunteered with the club in numerous roles since 2006. As a Cascade ride leader and League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor, he has helped lead many rides, including the monthly family-friendly Spokespeople rides from Wallingford, the 2010 Cascade Training Series, and various other rides throughout Seattle, as well as acting as a ride referee for several of the big event rides. Michael has been very involved with bicycle advocacy, both with Cascade and through supporting grassroots advocacy efforts; he also regularly attends the monthly Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board meetings. He has served on the boards of community clubs, his church, and his condominium association.
Michael's goal for his involvement on the Cascade board is to use his experience with Cascade rides/events, advocacy, education, and software development to support the club's development and to guide the executive director.
Top
 Kevin Carrabine, Director
Wheels: Blue Soma Smoothie ES ("extra smooth") with all the reflective stickers he can find, used for commute and recreational rides. For grocery runs and loads, he rides a Gary Fisher Hoo Koo e Koo mountain bike and pulls a B.O.B. trailer.
Rides: Kevin is a year-round bicycle commuter from his home in Ballard's Sunset Hill neighborhood to the U.W. campus, where he works as a Nurse Practitioner (12.8 mi. RT). He doesn't take nearly enough recreational rides – though on days off and weekends he tries to use his bike for most of his errands and simple tasks. He is a regular on the Chilly Hilly, did the STP in 2004 (it was hot!), and admires those who take on challenges like RAMROD and the High Pass Challenge.
About Kevin: Kevin grew up in a suburb of Cleveland, and his first recollections of using his bicycle were to ride to school and to the local public golf course, bag slung over his shoulder. Fast forward to the late 70s, when he lived in San Diego, and started to use his bicycle for work commuting. This day to day use of his first "adult" bicycle (a generic SR) led to planning an around the world trip in the early 1980s. After three months bicycling on New Zealand's pristine roads (2 flats in 2400 miles), and another three months touring Australia by car, homesickness drove him back home and he migrated to the Pacific Northwest.
He is committed to the mission of the Cascade Bicycle Club and has always worked for what he believes in - while living in San Diego, he co-led a drive to successfully organize the nurses at the hospital where he worked. Once he settled in Seattle, he joined his local neighborhood organization and served on its board for many years, including several years as President, during which time the organization was successful in securing a large City of Seattle Neighborhood Grant to remodel the clubhouse building. In the late 1990s, he joined with fellow Ballardians to lobby the City to take action on the unfinished sections of the Burke-Gilman Trail in Ballard, and was a founding member of the Friends of the Burke-Gilman Trail. Those efforts led to the 2003 Seattle City Council decision regarding the Missing Link.
Kevin is grateful to his wife Jennifer for modeling good bike-love behavior and for her overall goodness. He looks forward to serving with his new board-mates, and supporting Cascade's ascendancy as the quintessential bicycling organization in the nation.
Top
 George Durham, Director
Wheels: Kogswell Model D for the daily commute and longer recreational rides; Trek 950 Xtracycle conversion for hauling kiddos, groceries, and other cargo; a too-infrequently-used Klein Attitude Comp mountain bike; and a Prisa Cycling TF-2 Special Edition carbon fiber speedster for faster rides.
Rides: On a typical day, George commutes approximately 6 miles from Ballard to Montlake, where he catches a bus (multi-modal commute) to get across the 520 floating bridge and then to his office in Redmond. On a nice day, he'll ride the entire route or even go up and around Lake Washington if time allows. He loves riding with his family and friends. A self-described "utilitarian cyclist," the bike is what generally gets George from point A to point B. He is a regular on Cascade's Flying Wheels Summer Century, the Seattle to Portland Bicycle Classic, and the occasional RSVP (Seattle to Vancouver). Personal goal: self-contained trans-America tour.
About George: George is a nonprofit technology program manager with Microsoft's Global Community Affairs team, responsible for Microsoft's ongoing relationships and strategy with nonprofit organizations around the world. He works with nonprofits to ensure they have the technology tools and resources they need to fulfill their missions. Professionally, he has worked closely with organizations and enterprises throughout his career to help them realize the benefits of Internet and enterprise technology, software and web services, and social media.
George brings perspective, experience, and stability to the board and hopes to strengthen the organization's membership, outreach, stability, and community leadership. He is a strong believer in Cascade's mission and the club's work in advocacy, education, and recreation. He appreciates that Cascade provides so many opportunities to cyclists of all stripes: from kids to families to regular commuters to competitive cyclists, he knows the club is a tremendous resource in Seattle, the region, and the country.
Top
 Emily Moran, Director
Wheels: Surly Long Haul Trucker
Commute: 5 miles from Roosevelt to Downtown Seattle
About Emily: Born and raised near the Motor City, Emily trekked to the Pacific Northwest upon completing a BS in Environmental Economics and Policy at Michigan State University. Switching from driving everywhere she went in MI to bicycling everywhere she went in Seattle, she served as an AmeriCorps Intern for CBCEF as the Events and Maintenance Program Assistant. Emily now works in wind resource assessment at DNV Renewables, a wind energy consultancy, and is a member of WOWE (Women of Wind Energy). As Emily is very familiar with company biking incentive programs, she looks forward to aiding the growth of our commute department. Additionally, Emily aims to help CBC foster a more inclusive environment for young commuters, especially women. She looks forward to bringing her fresh new commuter’s perspective to the board room table to help the club become better friends to those who do not necessarily feel well served by the club at this time. Her interests beyond efficiencies in transportation and energy include traveling, cooking, snowboarding, and spending time with the bounty of friends Seattle has provided her.
Top
 Bill Ptacek, Director
Wheels: An older Cervelo with fenders and bigger tires for commuting and rides in the rain, a Serota Legend for long rides in good weather.
Rides: Bill likes to commute as often as possible from home in downtown Bellevue to his office in Issaquah. This is 11.5 much of which is uphill over Eastgate and downhill on the way home. He can be found on Saturday mornings throughout the year at Tully's on Mercer Island where he meets up with the Buty Riders, an eclectic group of folks from Mercer Island and Bellevue. This group does the usual STP, Ramrod, Chilly Hilly and RSVP. Last year some went to the Pyrennes where they tackled the mountain passes of the Tour d' France.
About Bill: Director of the King County Library System which last year was the busiest library in the United States. In his 22 years in that position, he has served on numerous Boards and Commissions. He most enjoys the community building aspects of public libraries. That translates to the notion that biking can also help to build community. The Cascade Bicycle Club is uniquely positioned to create the environment for the expansion of bike infrastructure. Also it can be a catalyst for partnerships, joint efforts and collaborations that will enhance the community’s awareness of biking and which will make biking safer.
Top
 Ron Sher, Director
Wheels: Ron rides a Rodriguez for commuting and in the winter. A Parlee Z-5 is his choice for road riding and climbing. He and his wife spend time together on their Rodriguez tandem.
Rides: Saturdays are for rides with his group the Buty Riders. Another day or two winter, and three or more in the summer, his bike takes him to work, an appointment or just around. He seems to manage a bike trip to France yearly and often other places as well. Working less and riding more appears a goal on which he is making progress.
About Ron: He likes to call myself a community builder; most people would say he's a real estate developer. As the Managing Partner of the Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue, founder and owner of Third Place Books and now working to add vitality to downtown Bremerton his hobby of creating vital urban places and his work come together. The main non-profits he is now involved are the Urban Land Institute, the Project for Public Spaces and the Cascade Land Conservancy which follow his interest in creating great places and urban vitality. He has an MBA in Finance and a PhD in Agricultural Economics.
Vision: He dreams of Great livable cities where people can live lightly, walk and bike, know and support their neighbors and do much less damage to our world. He hopes people will read Urbanism in the Age of Climate Change, by Peter Calthorpe.
Top
|
