Board and Staff
As a 501(c)3 non-profit organization, MTB Missoula is run by a whole lot of volunteers and three staff. We have an all-volunteer Board of Directors that oversees the direction of the organization, and seven volunteer committees that detail and assist with operations. Many Board members first get involved through one of those committees. Thanks, team!
If you're interested in learning more, please contact us here.
Board of Directors
Andy Althauser, Board Chair
Andy grew up in Kansas City, Missouri where he had to travel one hour to reach the nearest single track and ten hours to reach the nearest mountains. He knew there was a better way. He moved to Missoula in 2004 to be able to access mountains and trails on the daily not yearly basis. “Moving in the mountains with family and friends is my criteria for a life well lived and there is no better place to do that than Missoula, Montana.” He enjoys moving by bike, foot, and ski on the trails of Missoula and in the mountains of Montana with his wife and two daughters.
Andrew Sullivan, Vice Chair
Andrew grew up just about everywhere, jumping around South Africa, Germany, Florida, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Washington but is absolutely stoked to call Missoula home. Having spent many summers rock and alpine climbing, once he picked up a mountain bike, those pasttimes rapidly fell to the wayside. To be totally honest, Andrew misses some of the dedicated biking trails in central Washington and is hoping to help get more of those types of trails out here in Missoula. When not on a bike or skis Andrew spends his time doing software product management, dabbling in homebrewing and woodworking, and taking care of a small menagerie of animals with his wife.
Sara Smith, Treasurer
Sara grew up in the shadow of the Beartooths in central MT. Living in the middle of a system of backroads led to long bike rides at an early age. Sara moved to Missoula in 1993 with a mountain bike in tow and has never looked back except for a brief stint in Colorado. Sara raced all over MT and ID in the early 90s, racing for the UM Club Team. She has dipped her toes in triathlons, RATPOD, gravel races, the Butte 50, and now is obsessed with bikepacking. In addition, Sara has been a member of the Professional Ski Instructors of America and is a Level 3 certified instructor. To support her recreational habits, Sara is the CFO at ALPS, a nationally based insurance carrier that focuses on lawyers. She is married to a ski nut and has a golden retriever named Blaze.
Sarah Millar, Secretary
Sarah is an avid cyclist, skier and trail runner, who tries to keep up with her two teenage daughters. By day, she works in finance for the National Interscholastic Cycling Association. Sarah coaches for the Missoula Mammoths Mountain Bike Team and the Ice Badgers Nordic Ski Team. She and her husband also run their own small businesses, The Dram Shop and Dram Shop Central. Sarah comes to MTB Missoula with experience in education, non-profit management and accounting, and has a passion for providing opportunities for more kids (especially female identifying athletes) to get outside and grow the sport of mountain biking.
Cory Sobin, Board Member
Cory Sobin grew up in New Jersey and headed out west as quick as possible, chasing a snowboarding and mountain biking dream life. He found it in Missoula, MT where he has lived since 2001. He has ridden the trails around the state for years, and was looking for a way to give back to help grow and support a sport that he loves. Cory works as a mortgage lender at Opportunity Bank and is excited to contribute his financial expertise as the new treasurer of MTB Missoula.
Bruce Beighle, Board Member
Bruce is a 4th generation Montanan who was very fortunate to grow up in Pattee Canyon hiking and riding horses around Mount Sentinel back when it was private. Bruce has lived in a dozen places throughout the West, and has an awesome daughter (sang at 2023 Mullet Classic) and son (electrical engineer) who have also chosen to live in Missoula. His engineering career has taken him throughout the U.S. and other countries, as well as allowed him to start-up several Montana based consulting firms that have employed many Montana-raised engineers. His passion for the outdoors compels him to support Missoula organizations working to improve our surrounding environment for the benefit of future generations. He especially enjoys weekly rides with the original over the hill Thursday Night Riders (bikes-brats-beers)!
Matt Radlowski, Board Member
Matt got into mountain biking his early 20’s and learned to mountain bike on a late 90’s hardtail with v-brakes and questionable suspension. He left the root and rock infested hiking trails of his hometown in upstate New York for college in the west, and eventually found Missoula in the search for bigger mountains, deeper powder, and grad school. He’s been a dedicated backcountry rider since 2008, when a ride on the Gallatin Crest Trail showed him a whole new challenge of traveling through remote places. When this trail was closed to biking, Matt decided it was time to get involved to advocate to maintain MTB access to backcountry trails. Matt knows the value of spending time in nature, and as a licensed mental health therapist in private practice he encourages his clients to spend time outdoors. Matt coaches and organizes trail work days for high school athletes on the Missoula Mammoths NICA team, is a certified sawyer for MTBM, and has been a member of MTB Missoula’s advocacy committee for 6 years prior to joining the Board. When not actively advocating for MTB access, Matt loves riding the local trails with his kids - both of whom shred way harder than he does.
Rika Wishcamper, Board Member
Rika grew up in Western Montana as a ski bum and did not discover mountain biking until she was living in Colorado, post undergrad. Over the years she has also discovered a love for gravel riding and trail running. While Rika may be mediocre in mountain biking skills, she's advanced in her passion for nature, conservation, equality and community engagement.
Phil Gardner, Board Member
Phil is from Indiana. As a young lad, he started riding a Schwinn Apple Crate Sting Ray and channeled Evil Kneivel. Later he picked up a Trek 520 road bike and got wonderfully lost in the maze of paved roads of Southern Indiana where “Breaking Away” was filmed. He then headed out on a self contained trip with his brother from Mount Rainer to Santa Barbara, a trip which cemented his love affair with bikes. He bought a Trek Antelope Mountain bike in 1988 and spent a month camping in Moab exploring slick rock. He moved to Missoula in 1997 to practice ENT medicine. Phil has served on the non profit boards of Missoula Medical Aid, Missoula Youth Homes and Friends of Missoula Parks (FOMP). He is one of the founders of RATPOD for Camp Mak A Dream and continues to serve on its Board. He also led efforts through FOMP to build a pedestrian bridge across Rattlesnake Creek at the end of Duncan Drive and the RUX project at the western end of Pine St. Phil is passionate about open spaces and sauntering through wild places. He is married to Julie and they have raised three daughters.
Trent Baker, Board Member
Trent grew up in Pocatello, Idaho, attended college in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has lived in Missoula, Montana since 1994, where he attended graduate and law school. A former swim coach, ski bum and river guide, Trent is now a shareholder in the Missoula law firm of Datsopoulos, MacDonald & Lind. A passionate conservation and recreation advocate, Trent served on the Milltown Redevelopment Group, guiding redevelopment efforts after removal of the Milltown dam on the Clark Fork River, and on Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks’ River Recreation Advisory for Tomorrow Committee, which recommended policies governing recreational and commercial use of western Montana rivers. He helped found and continues to lead Brennan’s Wave, a nonprofit focused on rehabilitating dangerous irrigation diversions into multiple-use structures that are better for fish, boaters and the community. Trent has served in leadership roles on other non-profit boards, including: the Clark Fork Coalition, Homeward, and Ecology Project International. Trent enjoys Montana’s outdoors while biking, skiing, hiking and boating with his wife and two teenage daughters.
Shane Balgaard, Board Member
Shane grew up racing BMX around Wisconsin. He and his sister both won the state BMX championship the same year. On his 16th Birthday, he received the best present he could have ever asked for -- a job as a mechanic at his Uncle’s bike shop in Rhinelander, Wisconsin. Shane loves everything about mountain biking and the mountain biking community in Missoula – coaching, trail building, riding with friends, racing enduro and downhill races … even just talking to people about bikes and biking at the trailhead parking lot. He is excited to join the Mountain Bike Missoula Board and help share the mission with as many people as possible!
Joanna Kreitinger, Board Member
Joanna grew up in the Gallatin Valley, but didn’t start mountain biking until one fateful day in Missoula when she was convinced to ride a borrowed hard tail down Blue Mountain. With tears of joy on her cheeks, she knew she was hooked and purchased her first mountain bike two days later. Juggling life as a full-time scientist, mom, and now bonafide bike lover, Joanna would often get out on rides during incubation steps in her experiments. There’s something really special about being able to ride right from your lab’s front door! If you know Joanna, she’s probably tried to get you on a mountain bike. Joanna can be found coaching Zoo Town Derailleurs or towing her son for a family ride down Fenceline. She has other hobbies too, just not during bike season.
Sylvie Coston, Board Member
Sylvie grew up on her family’s ranch in Stevensville, Montana. She has a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from Montana State University and is currently working towards a master’s degree in Communication Studies and Natural Resource Conflict Resolution Certificate from the University of Montana. Prior to graduate school, Sylvie worked at The Nature Conservancy in land management and operations. Sylvie is passionate about bringing people together to work collaboratively. When she is not mountain biking, you’ll find her skiing, hunting, fishing, riding horses in the backcountry, or on the river with her Griffon, Remi and fiancé, Sam.
Staff
John Stegmaier, Executive Director
John and his family have been benefiting from the legacy of Missoula's trail stewards since arriving for grad school in 2012. He's honored to be standing on their shoulders, alongside a passionate board, to advance all forms of mountain biking in Missoula and surrounding. Prior to coming on at MTB Missoula in 2021, John worked for Missoula County's Parks, Trails & Open Lands Program where he helped manage a system of 80 parks and 50 miles of shared-use pathways. John is eager to leverage his public-sector experience and lifelong love of singletrack to expand Missoula's riding options for current and future mountain bikers. Since his early riding days in the Midwest, John will forever be working on a clean, well-timed bunny hop and welcomes any suggestions for improvement!
Nic Hertzler, Field Services Specialist
After graduating with a degree in geoscience into a pandemic job market, Nic moved from his
hometown in Pennsylvania to Prescott, Arizona to work on trails in the Prescott National Forest.
Having previously done trail work in the woods of western Massachusetts, he rediscovered how
wonderful working outside could be. This brought him to western Montana in 2021 to work in
the Kootenai National Forest, eventually settling in Missoula. Having worked as a mechanic at
Missoula Bike Source since January of 2022, Nic is excited to join MTB Missoula as Field
Services Specialist and to be a larger part of the Missoula mountain biking community. When
he’s not working, you can find him taking GIS classes at UM, or (more likely than not) riding
Missoula’s local backcountry trails. No, he still can’t wheelie but he’s trying so cut him some
slack.
Kaleigh Cunningham, Marketing Coordinator
Kaleigh Cunningham graduated from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in 2017 with degrees in Political Science and Environmental Geography. Throughout college and in the years to follow she traveled the country working on everything from local issues to presidential campaigns, and specializing in conservation policy. After moving to Montana 6 years ago, Kaleigh can be found getting outdoors as much as possible with her dog Slevin, and empowering young people to act on behalf of the environment as president of ACC Missoula. Her favorite things to do outside of work hours include mountain biking, photography, cooking, attending concerts, and skiing.