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 Board Candidate: Michael Snyder
Email me at msnyder@zserf.com.
Bicycling is a big part of who I am. It is my desire to make cycling more accessible to others. I am dedicated to the club’s mission of building both a better community of cyclists and a better community for cyclists. I am passionate about Cascade’s potential to continue to be a positive influence in our community and want to help the club succeed. I feel strongly about my ability and obligation to help the club at this crucial point in its history.
The role of any board of directors is to lead by representing the organization’s membership. I envision that the Cascade board’s role is to discern and promote the club’s direction and mission in response to the membership. The board does this by guiding the executive director and empowering that individual to succeed in performing his or her duties. Cascade has seen rapid growth in membership; some of the structures haven’t scaled to meet the demands of the current membership. The board should encourage necessary updates to technology and programs to meet these increased demands. The board should be visible and transparent. I believe that effective management over-communicates; as a result, large changes should not be a surprise to those affected by them. Board members should be active participants and volunteers in many aspects of the club and should promote the same in the membership.
I have been involved in numerous volunteer, leadership, and advocacy roles in our bicycling communities. With Cascade, I have served as a ride leader for beginning rides, a volunteer ride referee, and an advocacy volunteer. Additionally, I am a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor and a year-round bicycle commuter. In these roles and my daily life, I am committed to bicycling in general, as well as to Cascade’s education and advocacy efforts to promote a better community through bicycling. I have participated in multiple event rides over the past six years (STP, RSVP, and Chilly Hilly), as well as 300+ mile solo bicycle tours. Since 2005, I have been car-free and have used my bicycles as my main mode of transportation. I lost 2,000 pounds of automobile in one day and 40 pounds of body fat over the next four months; it is difficult to overlook the positive impact of cycling on my life. Bicycling is such an intrinsic aspect of my life that my wife and I incorporated a 7-person conference bicycle into our wedding. I have experience leading a board during the merger of a church with two other churches; I continued serving on this board as the newly formed church was faced with the challenge of restructuring itself as a functional and dynamic new group. I have served on the boards of several additional non-profit groups in the last two decades. In addition to my volunteer experience within Cascade, I bring personal relationships with leaders in other bicycle, pedestrian, environmental, and social service non-profits.
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