IMBA Appoints Two New Board Members

IMBA Trail News
Volume 11, Number 3
July-August 1998

by Joshua Parris

Chris Kegel, Wisconsin

Another CEO has joined the IMBA Board of Directors. At its May meeting in Park City the board appointed Chris Kegel, of Wheel and Sprocket, Inc., a chain of bike shops based in Milwaukee, WI. Since starting as a service manager, Kegel moved up the corporate ladder to vice-president and then to CEO.

In 1990 Kegel began working with Recreation for Individuals Dedicated to the Environment (RIDE), and still serves as a board member. Facing a crisis at the Kettle Morraine area of Wisconsin, he signed a commitment with the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources to raise $75,000 for trail work. Kegel also serves as president of the Wisconsin Off-Road Bicycling Association (WORBA), and as a board member of the Chicago Area Bicycle Dealers' Association (CABDA), the League of American Bicyclists, the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Nordic Network and the Wisconsin Ski Industry Association.

Kegel has helped raise more than a million dollars in the past few years for all forms of cycling, including road rides such as Bay View Classic and Pedal for the Homeless, off-road rides such as Mountain Man Biathlon and the popular Cactus Cup, and even the Recumbent Round Up.

Kegel is recognized as one of the cycling industry's advocacy leaders. He has spoken at hundreds of meetings around the United States.

Despite all this advocacy and business, Kegel still finds time to coach children's soccer and Little League teams.

Jay Franklin, Georgia

"I am not part of the bicycle industry. I am an average Joe who likes to ride mountain bikes and work with others building trails." This is the perspective Jay Franklin wants to bring to the IMBA board.

Franklin, of Atlanta, Georgia, is ready to slide a chair up to the table and contribute to IMBA's leadership. And he has the utensils to help him do it: In one hand Franklin holds a pulaski which he picked up shortly after his first mountain bike ride; in the other he has the knowledge that he has accumulated from being active in mountain biking advocacy.

In 1990 Franklin joined the Southern Off-Road Bicycling Association (SORBA). Then in 1993 -- the same year that he joined IMBA -- he became the president of SORBA. "I feel I have a good understanding of the access challenges in an urban area," Franklin said. "I have extensive experience in working with other trail user groups and local public agencies."

Franklin worked with the Chattahoochee-Oconee National Forest in 1996-1997. His cooperation and dedication earned him a certificate of appreciation from the United States Forest Service in 1994, '95, and '96. Franklin also received the esteemed Shimano-IMBA Action Hero Award in 1997.

What does Franklin have in mind for IMBA? He wants to increase membership, improve member communications, and "continue to nurture the national network of state and regional IMBA advocacy representation."