MassBike is pleased to present its new Membership and Office Coordinator, Austin Rand! Originally hailing from Groton, Austin left to attend college in one of the best bicycling communities in the country, University of Colorado at Boulder. During school and after graduation, Austin's interest in bikes blossomed. He got a lot of great experience working at a number of bicycle organizations, like BikeDenver, Denver B-cycle, and the Bikes Belong national peopleforbikes.org campaign.

We're thrilled to have him back in the Bay State, where he can use this experience to help grow our membership and increase community involvement, not to mention keeping the office working smoothly. When I asked what he was looking forward to now that he is back in his home state, Austin said “I have many fond memories of riding the winding roads in central Massachusetts and look forward to making more soon. I'm also excited to be living in Boston and can't wait to explore the city from behind my handlebars.”

At CU Boulder, Austin raced mountain bikes while pursuing his bachelor's degree in Environmental Resource Management. After graduating, he interned at Denver Bike Sharing, the operating non-profit for the Denver B-cycle system, and helped BikeDenver (the city's bike advocacy group) develop membership newsletters. Most recently, Austin traveled around the country managing a series of 40 national events to promote the peopleforbikes.org campaign.

He's only two weeks into his job and has hit the ground running! On his first day, he was dealing with a (very welcome) stack of donations, membership renewals, and new members that are still rolling in from the end-of-year appeal. Once he's done with that, he'll be helping to brainstorm on improving outreach efforts to expand and strengthen the bicycling community around the commonwealth. And as if that wasn't enough to keep him busy, he is also going to be managing the office to try to keep some semblance of order despite the flurry of advocacy, education and outreach activities going on daily.

Having another pair of hands, and especially one as experienced and competent as Austin's, is a huge help to the mission. Next time you're in the area, stop by the office and say ‘Hi!’ to our friendly new Membership and Office Coordinator.