Board of Directors

Board Positions

Board Committees (chair):

Executive Director - Richard Wolf
Development - Gina Kavesh
Finance - Nick Zylkowski
Governance - Allison Handy
Policy - Roxana Gomez
Rides Committee - Nick Brown

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.

Richard Wolf, Co-President

Richard is a retired tech executive, most recently with Microsoft and earlier with Lotus in Cambridge, MA and Xerox in Palo Alto, CA. He is currently an angel investor helping start-up technology companies develop and grow. He has lived in Seattle for 25 years. Other than cycling, his interests include travel, opera, boating, and he is an avid soccer fan, holding season tickets to the Seattle Sounders.

Richard has been a bike rider his entire life and has been an active club rider in Palo Alto, Boston, and Seattle. Since retiring he has spent 2-3 months each year in France where he rides with French bike clubs. In France he became interested in randonneuring (long distance cycling) and in 2015 he completed the legendary Paris-Brest-Paris, a 1200 km event first run in 1891. He has participated in most of the events offered by Cascade - STP, RSVP, RAW, Flying Wheels, Chilly Hilly, Kitsap Classic - and is a free group ride leader and frequent participant. His favorite recent Cascade experience was volunteering to pre-ride the STP, marking the course for hazards and flagging inaccuracies.

Richard has also done many other types of riding: daily commuting, touring, tandeming, and even tricycling to work when he broke his leg and could not dismount from a bicycle. His fleet includes several folding bikes, a tandem, and a couple of steel classics, but he is most often found these days on a modern carbon fiber bike.

Richard is interested in offering a perspective based on his diversity of club involvement, having seen how a variety of clubs provide different models of a club experience to serve their communities. He is interested in advancing the safety of cyclists on our roads, having witnessed how local culture that respects cycling and legal frameworks such as vulnerable user laws can enhance rider safety. He is also interested in including the growing e-bike community in Cascade. He believes that a strong local bike club that represents all cyclists is essential to helping every cyclist.

Nick Zylkowski, Treasurer

Nick is a Senior Portfolio Manager for Russell Investments. He holds a BA in Economics and Mathematics from Pacific Lutheran University. Nick is a currently serving 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 the 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.

Demi Allen, Director

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!).

Nick Brown, Director

I am a life-long cyclist excited to join the board of Cascade Bicycle Club to both participate in and support a club whose mission I believe improves the quality of life in our communities. My own cycling spans racing, touring, and commuting and I realize the benefit of the Club’s hard work every time I saddle up. The Club’s comprehensive approach to serving the community broadly, and cycling specifically, motivates me to join the Board of Directors.

Professionally, I’ve got 20 years’ experience in business consulting, with an extensive background in stakeholder management and operating model design, as well as bringing clarity and order to challenging engagements and a people-focused, empathy-driven approach to problem solving. I have volunteered for the Club in the past, doing maintenance on the fleet of bikes used for kids classes, and I am always excited by the passion of the people that make the Club work.    

Off the bike and outside of work, my interests include teaching Nordic skiing, photography, and the quest to make the perfect loaf of sourdough. 

Gabe Castillo, Director

Gabe works for Pacific Premier Bank as a VP, Senior Branch Manager with over 35 years in the financial field and experienced in managing and opening new branches for banks. He plans to bring his business development, corporate partnership affiliation, and procurement know-how to Cascade. He enjoys working with non-profits organizations because he believes they are the backbone of communities for the work they do in enriching, educating, and reinvesting resources back into the community. Gabe has been on the board of Seafair, FamilyWorks Food Bank and Resource Center, Billings Middle School, and currently with the Green Lake Chamber of Commerce.

He rediscovered cycling after his knee doctor suggested that he find a low-impact sport and since then has become an avid cyclist, having completed 23 straight STP – the first 5 on a mountain bike and the last 2 on e-bikes – the streak broken only by the pandemic, 7 RSVP, 2 High Pass Challenges and numerous other Cascade events. He started Gruppetto Cycling, a social cycling club with a focus on camaraderie, offering group rides and access to cycling information. His dad bought his first bike from Goodwill. It was red and fast. He’s had many bikes, “too many” his wife would say, since that red bike. His current ride is a Specialized Creo and a Specialized Levo – both e-bikes.

Gabe grew up in View Ridge, just up the hill from Magnuson Park, and rode his bike down to watch the planes take off and land in the 1970s when it was called the Sandpoint Naval Air Station. When he’s not riding, he enjoys walks, reading espionage and time travel books as well as refereeing high school, select teams, and CYO basketball.

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, where she served as a Legislative Aide to Council President M. Lorena González. She now works at the ACLU of Washington, where she works to advance their legislative agenda in Olympia.

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!

Allison Handy, Director

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, Director

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.

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.

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

Jan 17, 2024
Online

Board meetings are all open to the public. Please email info@cascade.org for a link to the Google Meet.

Come join the Board of Directors!

Cascade Bicycle Club is a 53-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 Board Governance Chair Richard Wolf at governancechair@cascade.org.

About board service

The board meets five 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). The board meets six times a year along with an annual retreat and other meetings as necessary. 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.