AoB is a team effort and we highly value our members, volunteers, staff, and board. Thank you all for your many contributions that help make Asheville a better place. When you show, we grow!
Executive Director:
- Mike Sule
Current Board Members:
- Brian Randall, Board President
- Kent Cranford, Board Treasurer
- Jen Thompson, Board Secretary
- Jesse Dingle, Board Member
- Ben Hanna, Board Member
- Sophie Mullinax, Board Member
- Laura Richardson, Board Member
- Emily Richter, Board Member
Our Standing Committees:
- Policy
- Events
- Development
- Executive
Our part time staff:
- Abby Walker, Executive Assistant
Meet the AOB Board
Brian Randall
Board President, He/Him
Why do you live in Asheville?
I love mountains
Why do you invest in AoB?
AoB advocates for children to experience their city safely on a bike. AoB education events and Bike Club create wonderful communities of youth centered on the adventure of biking. I invest in AoB because it is transforming the infrastructure of Asheville so my family can safely commute to school and fun around town.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
Watching my 5 year and 7 year olds complete the Wilma Dykeman Greenway with huge smiles on their faces because they felt safe were motivated to ride!
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
Dupont is my favorite dirt system but my family has truly come to love the Wilma Dykeman greenway.
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
My wish for Asheville is for it to be a place where everyone can experience success and safety, joy and community, peace and bike love!
Kent Cranford
Board Treasurer, He/Him
Why do you live in Asheville?
I visited the NC mountains many times as I grew up and in 1993 made them my permanent home.
Why do you invest in AoB?
I love the advocacy for multi-modal transportation that AoB has been a leader for in Asheville.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
Recently it was riding across NC previewing the Cycle NC Mountains to Coast ride.
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
Everywhere
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
Well-designed bike lanes on every corridor in the city and connections to our neighbor communities.
Jen Thompson
Board Secretary
Why do you live in Asheville?
My husband Kyle and I moved here in 2005 from Missoula Montana! I was like, hey I was a camp counselor in 1997 in Brevard and it seems like a great place for kayaking and biking and will bring us closer to our family. We can also find great paying jobs as we had both just graduated from grad school and Missoula is a tough spot to find a good paying career (insert Irony here!).
Why do you invest in AoB?
I invest in AoB for the community; I love bikes! I want to live in a city and raise my kids in a city in which I can have easy and safe access to trail systems and greenways. Asheville has a long way to go AND has come a tremendously long way since we moved here in 2005.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
Oh boy, that’s a tough one! Bike packing into the Pioneer Mountains in Sun Valley Idaho was a great adventure! I was with my husband Kyle and I was completely ill equipped with gear. I used our daughters’ school backpack It was comical on many levels and also spectacular! The view was ridiculous! It was a really fun way to explore on a bike and get out of town without using a car or backpack in somewhere.
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
Bent Creek!
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
My big wish for Asheville is for our city council to make decisions more through the lens of our local community and its direct needs and less through the lens of tourism.
Jesse Dingle
Board Member, He/Him
Why do you live in Asheville?
Being a graduates of Appalachian State University, my wife and I have always dreamed of returning to the mountains of North Carolina. Asheville fit the bill to a T.
Why do you invest in AoB?
It’s important to me to be involved with an organization that seeks to support equity and diversity in the area of transportation, especially as it relates to biking for recreation as well as transportation.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
During the summer, once a week, my wife and I will hop on our bikes and have a “lunch date” at a local restaurant. Each week is a different restaurant!
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
The Wilma Dykeman Greenway is my current favorite spot. However, I love to just explore the city on my bike.
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
My big wish for Asheville is that all who live here, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, or socio-economic background can feel accepted as a part of our larger community.
Ben Hanna
Board Member, He/Him
Why do you live in Asheville?
We live in Asheville because of its access to nature, the strong local community, and the people we call friends.
Why do you invest in AoB?
I commute downtown from WAVL on my bike, and take my kid to school on a bike as often as I can. I spent a few years on the west coast, and came to appreciate the bike infrastructure that was present there. More importantly, the drivers have a better understanding of what it means to “Share the Road” and I want to facilitate that here in Asheville.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
I biked Coastal HWY 1 from San Francisco to Los Angeles and bike-camped the whole way. The views and experience were life changing and made bicycling my preferred way of getting around.
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
I have always been more of a cross country / road biker and I love the greenways. I am starting to get more into mountain biking and am always open for trail recommendations!
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
I hope that Asheville makes smart choices building back from Helene and is able to increase the bike infrastructure and park access as part of it. We have a unique opportunity to radically change some of our landscape.
Sophie Mullinax
Board Member, She/Her
Why do you live in Asheville?
I live in Asheville because it’s been my home since 2001. Much of my family is here and I deeply appreciate and enjoy the natural beauty and vibrancy of our city and surrounding areas. I love getting to see it become friendlier and safer for all types of transportation – car, bike, pedestrian, and transit.
Why do you invest in AoB?
Asheville on Bikes’ mission and work aligns with my vision for a more livable, joyful, and resilient city that is easy to navigate by bike and foot. AoB works hard to address systemic harms, racist policies, and societal inequities, and I’m heartened by AoB’s commitment to the never-ending work of becoming anti-racist.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
The 50 States’ Ride in Washington, DC takes you on a 63-mile ride covering all the state-named streets in DC. I have ridden it three times, and once in the pouring rain. Tied with that is the first time I rode with my oldest daughter on our cargo bike when she was seven weeks old – on an AoB Summer Cycle ride!
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
In protected bike infrastructure.
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
To fully embrace and realize a vibrant, resilient, and healthy citizenry that isn’t dependent on cars
Laura Richardson
Board Member, She/Her
Why do you live in Asheville?
AVL is appealing for so many reason including access to the outdoors, fresh food and amazing community!
Why do you invest in AoB?
It’s important to work on issues that increase equity for all in our community; everyone should have safe, reliable ways to move about our City via all modes of transportation including walking and biking and for recreating.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
Most memorable, biking in Belgium to a farmhouse brewery was simply magical! We love to travel & explore the cities on bike/walking ~ most recently a visit to Miami, bike and pedestrian infrastructure everywhere connects us to multiple parts of the city!
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
I’m a commuter, so anywhere and everywhere.
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
Affordability, otherwise, we’re going to lose our most valuable resources: the residents of AVL. Everyone should be able to earn a fair wage, find affordable housing, access fresh healthy foods, child care and healthcare.
Emily Richter
Board Member, She/Her
Why do you live in Asheville?
The community and cooperativeness of the people I have met here have made me at home. I love the mountains and being outside in all the natural beauty that surrounds us, as well as the cultural and art scene here as well. Overall it’s a great place to call home and to come home to.
Why do you invest in AoB?
I want all people in our area to have access to safe trails and lessen the use of cars. Also having experienced the opposite- areas that are just plain dangerous to walk or ride in at all, reading news of cyclists or pedestrians being hurt or killed, motivates me to help everyone realize that it is everyone’s right to feel safe and to have access to the outdoors and have the option to use alternative means of transportation.
What’s your best adventure on a bike?
During a trip I took to Spain with a friend. We rented gravel bikes and chose a “moderate” 22 mile route from Strava rolling through the countryside. Things took a turn when the route entered a national park and the terrain got really rough. I had a flat that even after changing, would not hold air. Relying on the kindness of strangers and working around the language barrier, they helped us get out of the park and back to the safety of the small town we were staying in.
What’s your favorite place to ride in or around Asheville?
Gravel biking is my favorite, and I love riding (and running) in Bent Creek. It’s easy to get to and has such a variety of trails.
What’s your big wish for Asheville?
To see EVERYONE using greenways and trails and feeling safe!
Interested in Joining our Board?
Asheville on Bikes is expanding our board of directors. Are you interested in serving on AoB’s board? If so, please use this form to tell us about yourself, your experience, and your interest in Asheville on Bikes.
We are actively looking for members with diverse lived experiences, particularly people who identify as BIPOC, who are not currently sharing their perspectives on our board. We acknowledge that systemic harm can and has occurred from predominantly white groups, and we are actively working to address and mitigate the effects of internalized and institutionalized white supremacy culture.
Before applying, please note the following:
1. Board Service is unpaid, and regular donations of time and other resources are expected according to your means.
2. Serving with the Board represents an average time commitment of 2-4 hours per month over a 3-year term. Time commitments include monthly Board meetings, committee meetings, preparation for board and committee meetings, and advocacy/outreach/engagement efforts.
3. Being a Board member involves fiduciary duty, on-boarding training, and at times, public scrutiny. Please discuss these with your family and be sure you are prepared for these commitments before applying.
Please reach out to sophie@ashevilleonbikes.com with any questions. Thank you!