Cascade Members, meet your 2024 Board of Director candidates!
E-ballots must be submitted by December 20, 2023.
Sara Kiesler
The Cascade Board of Directors represents the voice of its members and is responsible to the membership. Their role is to ensure that Cascade’s resources are being used to the greatest benefit for all members, as well as the larger community.
We have six seats up for election. Over the past months, we’ve received great nominations. Each candidate has been vetted and reviewed by the Board Governance Committee and is recommended for your vote. We're happy to present the following new candidates to the Cascade Board of Directors.
If elected (or re-elected), the board members will serve a three-year term beginning in 2024. Members will have until Dec. 20 to finalize their ballot and submit their vote.
The candidates are:
- Eugene Cho, Prospective Director Candidate
- Luke Distelhorst, Prospective Director Candidate
- Marlene Druker, Prospective Director Candidate
- Mary Hoshizaki, Prospective Director Candidate
- Hanoch Yeung, Prospective Director Candidate
- Nick Zylkowski, Current Director Candidate
Bios below
Eugene Cho, Prospective director candidate
Eugene grew up and went to school in the Chicago metro area, where he was utterly dependent on his bike and public transit to get around in a place where parking lots often move faster than freeways. He moved to the Seattle area in 2004, where he quickly found kindred spirits in Cascade Bicycle Club members. Currently, he lives in Seattle and works in Tacoma.
He's a daily, year-round mixed-mode cycling commuter, has volunteered as a Cascade Outrider since 2015 (you may have seen him on rides in Outrider uniform, with his signature full-sized floor pump strapped to his back -- Pump Guy!), and has participated in gigantic recreational cycling events all over the world. He loves the idea of cities shutting down traffic and celebrating their love of cycling. Through the process of all that traveling plus the disassembling and reassembling of bicycles, he picked up the hobby of building and upgrading bicycles. He has built or revamped 40 bicycles that are used on the road by himself, friends, and family.
Eugene is excited to bring enthusiasm and energy to the Board from a rider/volunteer perspective, to help spread awareness of the physical and mental health benefits of cycling, and to work with others to make that safer and more appealing to everyone. Off the bike, he's a surgeon with Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. His real love is teaching, and he serves as the Tacoma campus Chair of Graduate Medical Education and teaches actively in their General Surgery Residency and Advanced GI Surgery Fellowship programs.
Luke Distelhorst, Prospective Director Candidate
Luke Distelhorst is a Senior Community Engagement Planner at King County Metro who lives in Edmonds, Washington. Prior to Metro, he previously worked at Community Transit in Snohomish County and spent 10+ years doing corporate communications. Luke also serves in various community volunteer roles with Leafline Trails Coalition, the Housing Authority of Snohomish County (HASCO), and the Sno-Isle Libraries Foundation.
After growing up cutting his teeth (and shins) on the BMX dirt jumps of Lower Woodland in north Seattle, Luke lived abroad for 10 years and had a long break from regular bike riding. Returning to Snohomish County and two wheels in adult life, his passions are now focused on advocating for safe and accessible bike-walk-roll infrastructure to create better transportation options in communities across Washington state.
Luke can most often be found around town on his Tern GSD e-cargo bike, sometimes with a precarious amount of groceries bungee strapped down. Outside of the city, he enjoys long gravel rides in the mountains and visiting Washington’s many landscapes.
marlene druker, Prospective Director Candidate
Marlene Druker rides a bike and believes the world would be a better place if everyone did.
Some of Marlene's happiest times as a young adult in her hometown of Montreal were spent commuting and exploring on her mint green Peugot with downtube shifters and white handlebar tape. The first time someone explained the concept of a century ride to her she wondered why anyone would ever do that, but since her first one in 2015, she has done several a year, including STP, RSVP, and Flying Wheels. Her current main bike is a Specialized Diverge with all the bells and whistles and she also still takes her less fancy Fuji Newest touring bike on short trips.
Marlene is a graduate of the McGill School of Architecture and a Washington State Registered Architect who has adopted her husband's hometown of Gig Harbor. Her local volunteer work includes chairing the design committee for the Downtown Waterfront Alliance, serving on Pierce Transit's Citizen Advisory Group, and serving on the board of the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation.
Having seen how people's lives and their communities can be made happier and healthier when more people get around outside of private motor vehicles, Marlene strives to help others discover and develop their love of cycling. Being a Cascade Free Group Ride Leader and an Outrider providing on-bike support for Cascade events is an effective -- and fun -- way to support that goal. Marlene is grateful to the club for providing these opportunities and aspires to continue to help Cascade fulfill its worthy mission.
mary hoshizaki, Prospective Director Candidate
Mary can bring much accounting and auditing advice to Cascade after 45 years as a CPA. She has experience with small businesses and more recently with biotech companies. She is well-versed in managing government grant accounting and compliance. Early in her career, she was an auditor for many nonprofit clients. She is very familiar with cashflow management, budgeting, forecasting, and taxes.
Around 2009, Mary rediscovered bicycling by participating in Cascade's Free Group Rides program and the Cascade Training Series. Since then, Mary has ridden RSVP and STP many times, as well as Chilly Hilly, Kitsap Color Classic, and Flying Wheels. She has also enjoyed many Cascade Tours such as Lake Chelan and Walla Walla. Her vacations are often spent doing bike tours with her partner on their tandem.
Mary is a long-serving member of the Free Group Rides Committee, keeping our riders and ride leaders safe and our rides free and inviting to all. She has been the series director for the Midweek Eastside Evening Training Series (MEETS). MEETS rides are arguably the most popular and well-attended rides within our program, serving 1,800 riders.
Mary has also been instrumental in helping develop our Women and Non-Binary program. She has recruited ride leaders to help lead rides specifically created for women and non-binary folks and has also helped organize social hours and classes for women and non-binary riders at Cascade.
hanoch yeung, Prospective Director Candidate
Hanoch is a Canadian-born Chinese cyclist, coder, commuter, climber, and content creator. He leads Cascade Free Group Rides, commutes to downtown Seattle on his e-bike, goes grocery shopping with his Brompton, unironically loves going up Zoo Hill, and does all he can to get more people rolling by making videos for his YouTube channel "Best Side Cycling".
It wasn't always this way, as cycling is something that entered his life only recently. After moving to Seattle as a college grad, he relearned how to ride a bike on the Burke-Gilman Trail. Starting as an unathletic beginner on a hybrid bike, he learned often through trial and error. Yet he got hooked after experiencing the freedom and joy of two wheels. The 2018 STP ride served as an illustrious goal for him to work towards. Pedaling his first road bike with the support of amazing volunteers, he miraculously made it to the finish on the second day. These beginnings were made possible by Cascade. He has now participated in most of Cascade’s offerings and even completed the “Everesting Challenge''. Bicycles have now become a huge part of his everyday life and he wants everyone to experience it as well in a positive way.
Hanoch is passionate about creating community and wants to be people's friendly guide to Seattle cycling. For the past couple of years, he has been sharing local routes, the latest bike infrastructure updates, and personal adventures to inspire his viewers to ride. He hopes his experience in engaging with the online community and his first-hand knowledge of our bike infrastructure in the region will be a great asset to this board. He welcomes anyone to connect with him!
nick zylkowski, current Director Candidate
Nick is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Russell Investments. He holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Pacific Lutheran University. Nick is currently serving as the Finance Chair on the Cascade Finance Committee. He has a strong background in finance and analytical perspective and will continue to bring this expertise to Cascade and the Finance Committee.
Nick has been an active cycling enthusiast for over a decade and has participated in numerous Cascade events including STP, Chilly Hilly, and Emerald City Ride. Twelve years ago, he was introduced to cycling on a dare from a friend: ride the STP in one day. The problem was he had never really ridden a bike further than 10 miles and had three months to train. That summer opened his eyes to a love of cycling, which has provided countless enjoyable, and at times painful, hours of his life since. Cycling has brought him some of his closest personal relationships, taken him on adventures around the world, and enriched his life in ways that are hard to express. He will be forever grateful that STP and Cascade were there to open that door 12 years ago, and Nick appreciates the opportunity to contribute to an organization which he knows has a profound impact on every community member it serves.
To vote
Electronic voting will be available to all Cascade members on December 1, 2023 via email. Keep your eyes out for an email from Cascade Bicycle Club with your personalized voting link, and review your cascade.org account to keep your email address up to date. Our new website will launch on Nov. 28 and you may need to reset your password. Please contact Cascade if your membership is active and you did not receive your personal e-ballot.
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