Board of Directors

Board Positions

Board Committees (chair):

Executive Director - Gina Kavesh and Allison Handy
Development - Gina Kavesh
Finance - Mary Hoshizaki
Governance - Allison Handy
Policy - Roxana Gomez

Meet the Board

Gina Kavesh, Co-President

Gina is a Seattle native but found cycling during the few years she lived in the Bay Area. She has been a Cascade member for over 25 years and has participated in the majority of Cascade’s rides – STP, Chilly Hilly, RSVP, Flying Wheels, Kitsap Colors Classic, and many others. Along the way, Gina created several cycling clinics including a women’s only clinic in Redlands, Calif. with an average attendance of more than 100 women.

Gina has been involved in cycling governance at the national level through USA Cycling and at the local level with the Washington State Bike Association. She also served as the Executive Director of The WAVE Foundation which is best known for Cycle the WAVE. She is excited to be able to spend her energy as a Cascade Board member to support all the critical work Cascade is undertaking to ensure cycling in the Pacific Northwest is accessible and safe.

Professionally, Gina has been a retail business owner, a nonprofit executive director, and is now self-employed as a business consultant focused on working with small businesses to improve their operational functions.

Allison Handy, Co-President

Allison has enjoyed cycling since childhood but started riding seriously in 2007 in Chicago. Since then, she has done triathlons, cyclocross races, and biked across Colorado and all over Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, and Michigan. Since moving to Bainbridge Island in 2013, she has been a year-round bike (and ferry) commuter to her job in Seattle and enjoyed the 2018 RSVP. Allison rides regularly with her husband and two kids on Bainbridge, the Olympic Peninsula, and wherever else they can find the opportunity.

Professionally, Allison is the Co-Chair of the Corporate & Securities Practice at Perkins Coie LLP. She counsels public and private companies on corporate governance practices, disclosure issues, and capital markets transactions, such as equity offerings, debt offerings, and tender offers. She is also a leader of the firm’s Environmental, Social, and Governance advisory team, and co-founder and frequent contributor to the firm’s Public Chatter blog. Allison also serves as a trustee of the Pacific Northwest Research Institute.

At Perkins, Allison is active in connecting with other bike commuters in the Seattle office, especially those who are just starting in bike commuting and looking for guidance on safe routes and office amenities that make bike commuting easier.

Mary Hoshizaki, Treasurer

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.

Demi Allen, Secretary

Demi was a corporate lawyer in the biotech/pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years, commuting to work by bike in Seattle for much of that period. But the time came when he had to do work more aligned with his passions for active transportation and biking. So, he got his MBA in Sustainable Business and took a job as the General Manager for the first bike share system in Seattle. He learned a lot from the Pronto experience and moved on to work with JUMP, the shared e-bike provider that was acquired by Uber. JUMP showed that e-bikes can play a meaningful role in urban transportation and prompted many people to buy their own e-bike after trying the shared bikes.

After a final role working on deploying charging infrastructure for electric bikes and scooters (also known as light electric vehicles or LEVs), Demi retired. He is now focused on travel and exploration with his wife Cezanne, as well as advocating for better bike facilities on Bainbridge Island (his home) and elsewhere. He enjoys hiking and swimming along with biking and recently added a mountain bike to go with his gravel/commuter bike. He is pleased with the improvements in Seattle’s bike infrastructure over the past 10 years and looks forward to seeing even more safe places for people of all ages and abilities to ride for transportation or fun (or both!).

Eugene Cho, Director

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, Director

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.

James Dorsey, Director

James Dorsey is President and CEO of College Success Foundation, a national nonprofit dedicated to coaching and supporting students from low socioeconomic backgrounds to prepare for and graduate from college as transformational leaders in order to forge a just and equitable society. In this role, James oversees all aspects of the organization that has supported more than 11,000 underserved students to graduate from college. As Cascade expands its bike education programs statewide, James offers a critical perspective in growing the organization sustainably.

James has dedicated his career to education reform and leading national, statewide and campus-based programs to improve educational equity for underserved students. James holds both a bachelor's and a master's degree from California State University.

Marlene Druker, Director

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. 

Roxana Gomez, Director

Roxana Gomez (she/her) is a first-generation American and the proud daughter of Honduran immigrants. She was born in Seattle and raised in South King County, and learned early in her life that where you live heavily affects your health outcomes. This awareness pushed her to study the social determinants of health at the University of Washington, where she graduated with a BA in Public Health. She later took her knowledge of impacted communities and lived experience to politics, first to the Seattle City Council and then to the ACLU of Washington. She now works at Legal Counsel for Youth and Children as their Director of Policy and Systemic Advocacy.

Roxana first took up cycling as a form of exercise (and as a way to get out of her UW dorm). Soon enough, she was going on long rides almost every weekend on the Burke-Gilman. Now, she doesn’t ride outside as much as she would like to, but when she does, she’s reminded of the liberation that cycling provides her.

Of course, not everyone feels this freedom. Roxana acknowledges that communities of color, in particular those in South King County, need greater investments in infrastructure before they feel safe riding their bike on the road. She’s hoping to bring this passion and awareness to the Cascade Board!

Stephen J. Hall, Jr.

Stephen draws on extensive experience in business and environmental advocacy to support community initiatives. His career spans from marketing roles to founding and later selling a specialty printing company. 

An avid bicyclist, Stephen has ridden the Seattle to Portland (STP) and has owned multiple bicycles, including: an old racing bike with sewn-up tires as a teen, a tandem for camping, multiple road bikes, multiple mountain bikes, and e-bikes. Today, he rides everywhere for everything on greater Seattle’s amazing bicycle infrastructure.

His connection to the outdoors has shaped his work, including service on a co-op board and founding a nonprofit focused on recreation. These efforts have helped expand trail access and outdoor facilities throughout Washington.

Today, he serves as a volunteer mentor to business owners, sharing insights from his entrepreneurial journey and expertise in sustainable practices. His approach integrates sound business principles with environmental responsibility.

Stephen's leadership in both corporate and nonprofit settings has refined his skills in governance and strategic development. He continues to apply this practical experience to foster business growth and advance conservation efforts in his community.

Eric Jensen, Director

Eric grew up in Bremerton and attended the University of Washington and Tulane University, where he received a Masters in Hospital Administration. Eric worked as a rural hospital administrator and CEO in Washington for over 30 years at hospitals in Central Washington, the Olympic Peninsula, and in the Puget Sound area. He is currently semi-retired living in Bothell and working in Governmental Affairs for a small health care system.  

As a hospital CEO, Eric has worked with nonprofit and hospital boards and brings in-depth experience in financial planning, strategic planning, legislative advocacy, and fundraising to Cascade’s Board of Directors.

Eric’s involvement in cycling spans six decades, including many years of membership to Cascade Bicycle Club as time and geography has allowed. As a triathlete living in Reno, his first training ride was around Lake Tahoe, not appreciating the extent of the vertical elevation. Throughout the 2000s, Eric has been an avid Cascade Bicycle event participant riding STP and RSVP 3 years each. He has also participated in numerous other rides over the years including Chilly Hilly, Kitsap Color Classic, MS ride, and Vashon Passport to Pain. 

Throughout his career, Eric has served on numerous nonprofit boards including Clallam County United Way, the Association of Washington Public Hospital Districts, the Kittitas County Board of Health, and Astria Toppenish Hospital, to name a few. Eric is excited to bring his passion for cycling and experience in board governance to the Cascade Bicycle Club’s Board of Directors.

Matthew Latimer, Director

Matt is a Chief of Staff for the OneDrive and SharePoint team at Microsoft in Redmond. He holds a BS in Business and an MBA from Indiana University. He has lived in the Seattle area since 1995 with his wife (Karen) and two daughters (Hannah and Olivia).

Matt has been an active cycling enthusiast since buying his first 10-speed at age 13 and has participated in numerous Cascade events, including STP, RSVP, Flying Wheels, Bike`n’ Brews, and Emerald City Ride. In 2009, he was introduced to Cascade and STP by a friend who convinced him (in March) that he could train for and ride STP (2 days) by July. He bought his first road bike (GT Series 3) and spent most of the next 4 months training and ultimately having a fantastic experience. Nine more STPs and one new road bike (Specialized Roubaix) later, Matt is aiming to ride STP annually and accumulate 30 total STPs.

That first STP was a catalyst that awakened a love of cycling, which has provided numerous unique life experiences since. Cycling has enhanced (and created) some of his closest personal relationships, improved his fitness/health, and enriched his life in profound ways. Matt has long admired Cascade as a member and rider and is grateful for the door opened 15 years ago.  He appreciates the opportunity to contribute to an organization that he knows has a profound impact on every community member it serves.

Brice Maryman, Director

In his work as a landscape architect, Brice works with communities around Puget Sound to create healthy places for people and the planet. He has worked with Seattle/King County Public Health and several suburban communities develop policies and build infrastructure to advance health equity, making activities like biking the easy choice for residents. He has also helped Washington's Transportation Improvement Board develop a Complete Streets grant program that helped dozens of communities across the state--large and small, urban and rural--adopt Complete Streets ordinances.

Brice's advocacy work has contributed to the passage of several ballot measures resulting in millions of dollars of new cycling infrastructure. He served on several citizen's advisory committees, Seattle's Green Ribbon Commission, and the Board of Seattle Parks Commissioners. In 2017, he was a Landscape Architecture Foundation Fellow exploring the intersection of homelessness and public space.

Brice lives with his wife and son on a neighborhood greenway. Though anyone with eyes tries to keep him away from the lycra racks, his wife's phone does have several sweaty pictures of him in too-tight clothes at the end of several Cascade rides including the Major Taylor, RSVP and STP.

Mark Mercado, Director

Son of immigrant parents from Puerto Rico, Mark grew up in the Los Angeles suburbs and attended college near Chicago. Today he is a career public school secondary science teacher. 

Like many former runners, he switched to spandex and cycling. Now, he loves the breeze on his face and the joy of seeing scenery at the pace of a bike.  

He’s ridden all Cascades major rides and especially gets a kick out of seeing all the bikes on ferry decks before Chilly Hilly and Kitsap Color Classic. He enjoys the physical challenge and synergy of riding with others. During the summer he regularly rides with Cascade's NERDS Free Group Ride group out of Lynnwood. He especially enjoys the post-ride beer, potluck, and conversations. 

Two summers ago, he bike-toured fully loaded with panniers from Anacortes, WA to Bar Harbor, ME on the Northern Tier route, with some assistance from Amtrak.  

Mark is passionate (and impatient) about protected bike lanes that make it safe for everyone to ride. He wishes the USA was more like Holland, where everyone from young to old rides and bikes have priority over cars. 

He is active in his church as a volunteer and sings in the choir.

Michael Payne, Director

Michael has been engaged in cycling advocacy throughout his adult life and is excited to help Cascade Bicycle Club grow. He is particularly eager to see Cascade strengthen its partnerships with regional and national organizations and unite more cyclists for greater impact. 

Over the last decade, Michael was the first Executive Director of Houston’s bicycle advocacy non-profit (BikeHouston), and served six years on the board of Safe Routes to Schools. He is currently on the board of national bike advocacy organization the League of American Bicyclists, and also chairs Inkomoko, a microfinance nonprofit that supports refugees in Africa. 

He brings experience leading organizations ranging from start-ups to nonprofits to large corporations. Having lived in multiple cities across six countries, including 15 years in the Netherlands, he is a big believer in benchmarking and adapting best practices to meet local needs. He is fortunate to have experienced best-in-class cycling infrastructure and wants to help Washington get there as soon as possible.

Before getting his MBA from Northwestern, he spent seven years as CEO growing and ultimately selling a technology startup. During this time he served on the board of the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition. Before shifting to nonprofit work, Michael spent 17 years in the wind energy industry managing large-scale project development in Europe, Asia, and the US.  

He has completed his League Cycling Instructor (LCI) as well as his Wilderness First Responder (WFR) certification and enjoys riding for recreation, fitness, and transportation. This summer he survived and enjoyed his first self-supported bikepacking adventure riding 340 miles from Whidbey Island to La Push and back. He is extremely grateful to all people who support bicycle advocacy!

Kai Shih, Director

Kai was the last kid in his neighborhood to ditch training wheels: he was too afraid to even try. As a parent, he wants his kids to be so much better than he was. He wants biking to teach his kids to brush off that scraped knee, to feel the joys of independence and the thrill of accomplishment, to get exercise, and to help the environment. When his 10-year-old suggested they bike STP, Kai said "let’s try" even though none of them had biked more than 15 miles. The family started on group rides; his wife and two older kids have now ridden Major Taylor and Chilly Hilly together, and all had a wonderful experience. His view is these experiences will be formative, and a ride like STP will be a lifetime memory for them.

However, Kai still hasn’t seen many families or people of color participate on Cascade’s rides. He would like to join the board to push for a greater emphasis on family-oriented programs, and for increased access to biking for people of color and underserved communities. Kai believes kids, people of color, and the underserved can enjoy a lifetime of positive impacts from biking with some encouragement and support. He would like to see programs like supported rides for families (training wheels welcome!), and medals for your first ride, and for kids.

As for Kai, he’s the president of the board of the Denise Louie Education Center, which provides early childhood education to underserved communities around Seattle. He’s also the founder of Shih Investments, a financial services firm. And he holds graduate degrees from Stanford and MIT.

Hanoch Yeung, Director

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!

Next Board meeting

Feb 19, 2025
Online

Board meetings are all open to members. Please email info@cascade.org for a link to the Zoom meeting.

Come join the Board of Directors!

Cascade Bicycle Club is a 55-year-old organization with a rich and incredible history of gathering the bicycle community for exciting rides, leading groundbreaking advocacy campaigns, and teaching people of all ages, races, and abilities how to bike. We seek enthusiastic and driven candidates to join our Board of Directors who lead with a desire to see a better world for people who bike and have talents in the areas of fundraising, governance, finance, advocacy, or leadership experience in either the for-profit or nonprofit sectors. We're especially excited to welcome candidates from diverse backgrounds: Black, Indigenous, and People of Color candidates; Women, Trans, and Femme candidates; candidates with disabilities; LGBTQ+ candidates, and people outside of Seattle. 

If you or someone you know are interested in being a part of our vision of a safe and healthy world where bicycles bring people together, eliminate inequity, and create thriving communities, please email the Board Governance Chair at governancechair@cascade.org.

About board service

The board meets 11 times a year and has an annual retreat and a brief phone meeting in August. Cascade is both a direct services organization (we put on rides and events and have a strong education program) and an advocacy organization (we monitor local, regional, and statewide planning and project implementation). Each board member is expected to participate on at least one board committee as well as participate in other activities.

Term length

A board term runs for three calendar years, starting January 1 after the election. The bylaws disallow serving for more than two consecutive terms, though there is no limit on the total number of board terms one can serve.