Board of Directors

Doug Cornelius, Board Chair (Newton)

Doug is an avid bike commuter during the week from his home in Newton. On the weekend, he loves long bike rides in search of ice cream and donuts. Doug rides the Pan Mass Challenge on Team Kinetic Karma.

When he’s not on his bike, Doug is working as the Chief Compliance Officer for a real estate private equity firm in Boston. Doug graduated from Brandeis University and Boston University School of Law. He is also an Investment Adviser Certified Compliance Professional®.

Jack Faer

Jack’s adult cycling experience began with the inaugural Boston to NY Aids Ride in 1995 and continued as a rider and fundraiser for the Pan Mass Challenge and Ride to End Alzheimer’s. His love for travel has included cycling in Australia, Europe and South Africa, notably the Cape Town Argus, the largest bike race in the world.  Additionally, he cycles with his wife, Jo Anne, the proud owner of an e-bike.

Professionally, Jack was trained as a CPA and FBI agent before a corporate career with Fidelity, State Street and Iron Mountain. He served on the Board of the Alzheimer’s Association as the audit committee chair and serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board of the Smith School, University of Maryland. As the founder of Faer Risk Consulting, LLC, he shows individuals and organizations how to reduce risk, with a focus on financial and security challenges.

Vidhee Garg, Board Vice-Chair (Boston)

Vidhee’s interest in designing equitable and just cities stems from her lived experiences in India, the US, and the Netherlands. Her formative experiences growing up in Bombay laid the foundation for a career in architecture and urban planning, with a focus on affordable housing. Working in diverse contexts around the world, the twin objectives of gender and racial equality guide her approach to urban development.

Living in Amsterdam, she experienced first-hand the benefits of a seamless cycling-public transit network and supporting infrastructure, especially so for women and minorities. As a MassBike board member, she is excited to transfer these lessons learned and play an active role in building better cycling infrastructure in Massachusetts, and through it, better opportunities for the state’s residents.

Martin Hayes 

Martin is an avid recreational cyclist who discovered a passion for cycling through the Pan-Mass Challenge.  Whether exploring rail trails, commuting to Cambridge, or traversing the hills of western Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire, cycling has been an important part of his life for several years.  

In addition to cycling, Martin is an accomplished scientist in the pharmaceutical industry where he is Chief of Staff for a global neuroscience research team. Martin is also passionate about expanding educational opportunities for economically disadvantaged children in Boston, Cambridge, and Somerville through volunteer work.

George Lester 

George started riding a bike for his paper route in elementary school, and has been cycling ever since for commuting, transportation, family fun, recreation and fitness. His favorite cycling activities now are mountain biking and long-distance bike-packing. With MassBike, George wants to focus on advocacy at a state and local level for bicycle safety and equitable access to cycling for all.

George also wants to honor the legacy of his brother and parents and the work they did in cycling and pedestrian safety advocacy. His brother Al Lester was killed on his bicycle by a drunk driver in 1992, while participating in a 24 hour endurance challenge. Out of this heartbreak, his parents became tireless advocates for initiatives to combat drunk driving and promote safety on roads for pedestrians and cyclists everywhere.

George is also active on a board or committee level with Hale Education, NEMBA, the Bay Circuit Trail, Friends of Medfield Forests and Trails, and the Town of Medfield Open Space and Recreation Planning Committee, and volunteers with Bikes Not Bombs.

Vance Perry (Marblehead)

James Adius Pierre (Cambridge)

James Adius Pierre is the founder of Soul on Wheels born and raised in Cambridge, James utilizes his vivid imagination, heritage and life vision in all aspects of his work. James has said that he feels challenged to express his curiosities at times, as he often questions the meaning of life. But ultimately his doubt and curiosity help him create projects and events that he hopes opens dialogue with the attendees and challenges the status quo. Soul on Wheels was formed with the mission to have Black people and people of color to explore and embrace cycling culture. The initiative has hosted a series of rides in the greater Boston area each with its own theme and specific goal. Each ride is designed to bring attention to a cause or subject matter directly linked to the black community. Over time the hope is to encourage riding and recruiting advocates for black bike culture.

Eric Poch, Board Treasurer (Sudbury)

Eric built his first 10-speed bike from trash-picked parts at the age of 8 and has loved riding on two wheels ever since! He has a lengthy industry association working in bike shops and with race promoters. His racing history began as an elite level Junior racing on the road and in time trials and he still races Masters road and cyclocross and enjoys mountain biking, too. Eric enjoys being active in his community having held various positions over the last 25 years, on local task forces, committees and boards and is current Chair for his town Finance Committee.

In his professional life, Eric holds an MBA and a Certified Internal Auditor (CIA) certification with more than 25 years experience in audit & assurance, controllership, and financial operations. He serves as a subject matter expert in Sarbanes Oxley with a deep understanding of COSO, PCAOB auditing standards / SEC and IFRS requirements and Internal Controls. 

Kristen Sykes (Holyoke)

Kristen has been an avid bike commuter for the past 5 years. Kristen began commuting to work when she worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club in downtown Boston. This bike commute took her from Cambridge to Beacon Hill. While in Boston, Kristen participated in the Boston Bike Party and the Santa Rampage events. After moving to Western Mass, Kristen commuted daily from Northampton to Amherst. She is an active road cyclist and participated in the Western Mass Food Bank Will Bike 4 Food and Pedal to Pints events. In her professional career, Kristen has worked for the Appalachian Mountain Club for over 15 years advocating for land protection and trails. She is also a craft beer enthusiast and homebrewer.

Staff

Galen Mook, Executive Director (Allston)

Galen has been involved in MassBike since his days at Boston University, when he helped kick-start the bicycle advocacy movement by co-founding a student group BU Bikes. Before taking the helm at MassBike, Galen worked at Landry's Bicycles in the advocacy and marketing department, worked for the start-up the Hubway bike share company for the first three years of the program, founded a community bike co-op non-profit in Allston called CommonWheels, and has worked as a pedicabber and bicycle activist in the Boston area for over a decade. He especially enjoys teaching folks some of the basics of biking to break down barriers and get more folks riding more bikes more often.

Galen holds a B.A. and an M.A. in Social Movement Theory and Multimedia Journalism from Boston University.

Alex Salcedo, E-Bike Grant Manager (Worcester)

Alex was born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and relocated to Worcester, MA, in 2010, to pursue her graduate studies. Not being familiar with Massachusetts, biking allowed her to get out of her comfort zone and start building community, by getting familiar with neighbors and neighborhoods. This translated throughout the years into establishing working relationships with organizations and businesses that contribute to the community’s well-being. For her, opting for a bike instead of a car is a win for everyone: cleaner air, less traffic, and a healthier world. 

Alex holds a B.S in Business Administration from Guayaquil State University and an M.S. in Nonprofit Management from Worcester State University.

Jes Slavin, Communications Coordinator (Northampton)

Jes grew up riding her bike on the Southern New England Trunkline Trail in her hometown of Douglas and started bike commuting while living in Boston. After being tricked into racing a mountain bike short track race on her hybrid commuter bike, Jes fell in love with bike racing. She has raced cyclocross, mountain bikes, and gravel.

Prior to joining the MassBike team, Jes worked as the Marketing & Memberships Manager for the Nebraska based nonprofit Heartland Bike Share. In this role, she oversaw marketing and communications for three bike share programs: Heartland B-cycle (Omaha, NE & Council Bluffs, IA), BikeLNK (Lincoln, NE), and Valentine Bike Share (Valentine, NE).

Jes holds a B.F.A in Writing, Literature, and Publishing with a minor in Photography from Emerson College and an M.A. in Educational Administration from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Interns

Petru Sofio, Design Review & Advocacy Intern (Arlington)

Petru Sofio is MassBike's 2021 Design Review Intern and Advocacy Representative from Arlington, Massachusetts. As a high school student, he bikes daily to and from school, year-round, using the Minuteman Bike Trail. He is a dedicated advocate, fighting to make streets safer for all ages, modes, and abilities.

Cycling Instructors

Tina Chan  (Allston)

Tina loves the freedom, joy, and movement that riding her bike brings. She enjoys teaching people of all ages how to ride a bike safely and legally so they are empowered every time they ride a bike.

Aaron Charlwood (Arlington)

Aaron is a League Cycling Instructor who has taught all kinds of cycling skills, including bicycle safety, handling skills, and safe and effective cycling with traffic, to people from ages 2 through 60+. Bicycling has been his primary transportation in metro Boston for over 25 years! He is thrilled to spread the joy and practicality of safe cycling to anyone and everyone. When he's not balancing on rubber legs, you can find him designing and building products, tools and systems for living more sustainably, either at home in his edible permaculture garden or at his makerspace studio in Allston!

SüSi Ecker  (Malden)

Laura J. Gray (Allston)

Laura loves riding her bike because it takes her places she'd never go otherwise, and she want to spread that joy to others. She is a League Certified Instructor (LCI) and has experience in running kids' bike rodeos, teaching bicycle safety to all ages, and mechanics (she built up a wicked cool touring bike!), but her passion is leading rides from three riders to three hundred riders! (You can catch Laura leading the pack at Boston Bike Party!)

Irene Lutts (Quincy)

As year-round, transportation cyclist, Irene spent many years on a family triple before launching her kids on their own bikes. As a League Certified Instructor, she currently leads rides and teaches with the volunteer-run group Quincycles. Irene loves sharing the joy and freedom that bicycling brings to her life by teaching others how to ride and to improve their on-bike skills.

Laura Smeaton (Boston)

Laura loves helping others discover or rediscover the joy, freedom, and independence of bicycling.  Laura grew up in a family of cyclists, and still enjoys pedaling with them. Past adventures include multi-day tours, but these days, she enjoys biking locally for transportation.

Peter Perlmutter, LCI (Lynnfield)

Guiding kids and adults to appreciate the freedom that cycling offers is fun. Following up with cycling skills and rules is equally important. Now it’s time to take off the training wheels!

PQ (Somerville)

PQ loves using bicycles not only for transportation but also to express their artistic vision. In addition to finding joy teaching riders young and old, they belong to SCUL, Somerville's friendly neighborhood bicycle chopper gang, and build and compete in all-terrain, amphibious, human powered Kinetic Sculpture Races. 

Anna Scalera (Salem)

Anna joined MassBike in spring 2019 to help with Safe Routes to School, bike rodeos, and bicycle education. She lives on the north shore and enjoys sharing her love of cycling with her two boys and with others in the community.