2013 Board of Directors
Board Meetings
Cascade's Board of Directors meets at 5:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of every month at our Sand Point office.
View the meeting schedule. Meetings are open to the public; please check with the office (206-522-3222) for last minute-changes. 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 (Don Volta)
Governance (Kevin Carrabine)
Task forces (chair):
Joe Platzner is on leave of absence from the board while serving
as Interim Executive Director effective April 15, 2013.
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, and longer rides to Duvall, Monroe, Snohomish, Everett, etc. He prefers cycling the more rural roads to the more urban roads. The century Flying Wheels route is one of his local favorites. He also likes 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 into finishing their degrees. He came to Seattle in 1992 to build and lead a research group on programming tools at Microsoft. He 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. So he is now a climate hawk, joining the board of Climate Solutions and otherwise spreading the word about catastrophic climate change. Bicycling itself emits no fossil carbon, and it takes far, far less energy to build a bicycle than build a car.
Daniel would like to see the club become more balanced as it grows. The club needs to continue and build upon its work on advocacy to improve cycling for everyone, but at the same time needs to invest more in its riding programs to make them stronger and increase their reach. The club's education programs are equally important. Advocacy is important because it 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. Riding programs, such as Daily Rides and the supported event rides, provide social and cultural motivations and glue for people get on their bikes. It is much easier and faster to ramp riding programs than it is to build infrastructure to make cycling safer. The club must balance all approaches to increasing cycling and to make cycling a viable transportation option.
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 Kevin Carrabine, Vice-President
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 who rides 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, 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 are riding to school and 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 of bicycling on New Zealand's pristine roads (with only two flats in 2400 miles), and another three months touring Australia by car, homesickness drove him back home and he migrated to the Pacific Northwest.
Kevin is committed to the mission of the Cascade Bicycle Club and has always worked for what he believes in. 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, Kevin 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.
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 Don Volta, Treasurer
Wheels: Calfees - Dragonfly; Tetra; and a Tetra with S&S couplers.
Rides: Don and his wife, Jane, lead 15 to 20 Cascade rides a year and participate in many more, accumulating over 4,000 miles on the bike 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, Don 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 as a way to give back even more to the club. He has served in several positions, including Rides Committee Chair, and for the past 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. 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.
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Charles Ruthford, Secretary
 Wheels: Surly Cross-Check, Trek Tandem. He loves that chromoly steel.
Rides: Locally, Charles enjoys riding the backroads and trails of southeast King County on the tandem with his wife or on his single when riding with his sons. Regionally, Charles and his family ride together and volunteer for Ride Around Washington (RAW), STP, Chilly Hilly, RSVP, High Pass Challenge and RAMROD. His most memorable bike trip was the 2009 RAW from La Conner across the North Cascades Highway to Kettle Falls. He serves on the RAW organizing committee as Route Director and Master of Ceremonies.
About Charles: Charles is an avid, skilled and safety-conscious cyclist who sees cycling as a pathway to good health, collaborative interactions with family and neighbors and an improved community. He believes rider safety and the integration of bicycling into communities is first and foremost the responsibility of cyclists. He is an active rider and he serves the needs of riders through education, participation, and advocacy.
Charles has had a diverse career in engineering, manufacturing, sales, information technology, human resources, ethics and compliance, and leadership and organizational development. His undergraduate education is in mathematics and science with a master’s degree in management. He is able to translate and apply his business knowledge and skills in the non-profit environment. He firmly believes that passionate people choosing to collaborate and serve for the common good can make the changes in our society that are beneficial and long-lasting.
His position on the Cascade Board is his first official board assignment. In the past, he has assisted the Special Olympics of Washington and the Friend of the Cedar River Watershed organizations with board development and strategic planning support.
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 Maggie Sue Anderson, Director
Wheels: 1995 Cannondale T400, complete with cool stickers, a loud bell, and soon to be not-so-squeaky brakes.
Rides: Mostly joyriding around Ballard, Fremont and Lake Washington, or trips along the Elliott Bay and Burke Gilman trails in hunt of fresh saltwater air.
About Maggie: Maggie rides in order to spend time with friends, to run errands and because she loves the excited jitters she gets at the start line of a bicycling adventure like Group Health Seattle to Portland Classic.
Maggie has made a career out of coalition building, organizing and health promotion. In her role at the Washington State University Extension, she works with community organizations, local government, school districts and the health department to promote healthy, active and safe schools and neighborhoods. She has been a Cascade supporter since she started working with the King County Food & Fitness Initiative in 2007. Her work with Cascade’s Education Foundation helped fund and launch the Chief Sealth International High School Major Taylor Youth Cycling Club in Southwest Seattle.
Maggie brings a fresh perspective, passion for community engagement, steadfast skills in campaign management and a wide-angle lens on issues communities face when it comes to access to safe environments for cycling. She is excited to work alongside the board and staff to build club membership and expand reach to new communities and demographics.
 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 five miles from Ballard to South Lake Union. 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. With the kids.
About George: George is an experienced marketing and communications professional with deep experience in corporate social responsibility, global communications, and technology product marketing. He currently provides consulting and advisory services on communications and marketing strategy for commercial and nonprofit organizations. He has overseen marketing for digital consumer products at Amazon.com, created the corporate communications and community engagement functions for a publicly traded specialty financial services company, and helped manage community engagement and global Technology for Good programs at Microsoft. He has previous experience leading marketing, business management, and product launches for major technology products. He also has experience leading two Seattle-area non-profit volunteer organizations.
George brings perspective, experience, and stability to the board and has worked hard to strengthen the organization's membership, outreach, 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.
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Dr. Rayburn Lewis, Director
 Wheels: Rodriguez S2 road and Rodriquez "Willie Weir" UTB bike for touring and commuting.
About Rayburn: Born mid-century in Chattanooga, Tenn., Dr. Lewis grew up in the Midwest. He was awakened to the world outside of Michigan and Indiana by college roommates and made his first long bike trip in June and July of 1970, circumnavigating Lake Huron with two other friends. The 900-mile trip took 23 days, 14 of them in the rain. The second major trip of that year was to the Rockies, Sierra-Cascades and the Pacific Ocean. An immediate love for the northwest brought Rayburn back here as a medical student later in the 1970s.
Medicine, the outdoors, hiking, cycling, skiing, gardening and community service all blend into a nearly indistinguishable medley he calls “The doing that makes my being.” Rayburn was Franklin High School’s team physician for 23 years and spent summers as a 4H volunteer supporting student cycling. For over 20 years, the second weekend in August would find 20 or more student athletes, coaches and volunteers climbing Hurricane Ridge, followed by the 80-mile ride back to Seattle the next day. Dr. Lewis is committed to fostering opportunities for young people of color to participate in non-traditional athletic activities, cycling foremost.
Activities such as an original Bike Works Board member, Puget Sound Blood Center, Washington State Association of Black Professionals in Health Care, the early days of Neighborcare Health (Puget Sound Neighborhood Health Centers-Yesler Terrace), round out his short list of “can’t say no to an invitation to serve.”
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 Mo McBroom, Director
Wheels: Specialized Tricross Elite with fenders, lights, and bag for daily commute to downtown. Scratched-up old Bianchi with a third wheel for pedaling with the kid.
About Mo: When she’s not on her bike, Mo is the Director of Government Relations for The Nature Conservancy of Washington, where she works with elected officials, government agencies and businesses to advocate for environmental policy and appropriations. Mo was previously the Policy Director for the Washington Environmental Council, where she spearheaded wide ranging legislative efforts such green infrastructure funding, promoting locally-grown foods in public schools and the creation of a state-wide recycling program for computers and televisions. She is the co-chair of King County Conservation Voters and a recovering trial lawyer. She holds a law degree (JD) from the University of Chicago. Her proudest accomplishment is being a Mom of a 6-year old who loves to bike.
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 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. Upon coming to Seattle, Emily switched from being a full-time driver to bike commuter. Emily served as an AmeriCorps Intern for CBCEF as the Events and Maintenance Program Assistant and now works in wind resource assessment at DNV Renewables, a wind energy consultancy, and is a member of WOWE (Women of Wind Energy). Familiar with company biking incentive programs, Emily looks forward to aiding the growth of Cascade’s commute department. Additionally, Emily aims to help Cascade foster a more inclusive environment for young commuters, especially women. She brings her new commuter 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.
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 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 his home in downtown Bellevue to his office in Issaquah. This is 11.5-mile uphill trek to work and downhill on the way home. Throughout the year, Bill can be found most Saturday mornings 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 usually participates in STP, Ramrod, Chilly Hilly and RSVP.
About Bill: Bill is the 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. Bill most enjoys the community building aspects of public libraries, and believes 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,” states Bill. “ 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.”
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 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: Ron bikes to work, appointments and to just around. On Saturdays, Ron rides with the Buty Riders, and he also seems to manage a bike trip to France yearly. Working less and riding more appears to be a goal on which he is making progress.
About Ron: With an MBA in Finance and a PhD in Agricultural Economics, Ron likes to call himself a community builder with a hobby of creating vital urban places but most people would just call him a real estate developer. Ron is the Managing Partner of the Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue, founder and owner of Third Place Books and is currently working to add vitality to downtown Bremerton. The main non-profits he is currently involved with are the Urban Land Institute, the Project for Public Spaces and Forterra, which follow his interest in creating great places and urban vitality.
Vision: Ron 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.
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Michael Snyder, Director
 Wheels: Bianchi Volpe and a variety of backup bikes
Rides: After selling his car over five years ago, Michael is on his bicycle for commuting or running errands 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, and the 2009 RSVP.
About Michael: Michael is as a quality assurance manager at a software company in Fremont, and 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. He has also served as 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, and regularly attends the Seattle Bicycle Advisory Board meetings. He has served on the boards of community clubs, his church and his condominium association.
Michael wants 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.
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Ed Yoshida, Director
Wheels: A Kona Dr Dew for commuting and a Davidson titanium for recreational road rides.
Rides: : Ed bike commutes regularly from his home near Sea-Tac Airport to his office in the South Lake Union area in Seattle. He has ridden most of the Cascade-sponsored rides such as the Chilly Hilly, Flying Wheels, STP, RSVP and the inaugural Red-Bell 100 last year. His favorite ride is any ride that leaves from his house and lets him ride his bike.
About Ed: Ed started riding seriously in the mid-70s after college. He dabbled in racing but didn’t have the lungs, legs or desire to pursue that endeavor. Ed commuted by bike regularly during law school since he had sold his car to be able to afford going to school. His first long ride was a self-supported tour from Astoria to San Francisco in 1982. Then in 1990, Ed and his wife, Marcy, embarked on an around the world bike tour during which they rode about 5,000 miles. Vocationally, he is a lawyer with PATH, a nonprofit organization that works on global health. As a member of the Cascade board, he is very interested in getting more people on bikes, both for recreation and transportation. Ed advocates for a transportation infrastructure that will allow everyone to ride or walk safely throughout the Puget Sound area in order to develop a livable, sustainable, urban environment.
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