Friends of Stevens Creek Trail Leadership

Aaron joined the Friends board in 2000 and has served as secretary, VP, President, Executive Director, and Trailblazer Race Director. He worked 2 decades with Hewlett Packard, several years as a teacher, and now is a hospital X-ray tech. Personal interests include bicycling, skiing, backpacking, photography, and international travel.

Ross Heitkamp joined the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail in 1998 after hearing about the possible extension of the trail into his Mountain View neighborhood. What started as an unofficial website for the trail extension became the official job for developing and maintaining the Friends website. Ross has served off and on as secretary and treasurer.

Jeannie Bruins is a south Los Altos resident. In 2006, she responded to the call for resident participation in Los Altos's Stevens Creek Trail Feasibility Study and ended up becoming co-chair of the Task Force. In 2008, she joined the board of Friends of Stevens Creek Trail. But Jeannie and her family's enjoyment of Stevens Creek Trail goes back much further. When her two sons were old enough for a "long bike ride", they would take Stevens Creek Trail out to Shoreline Park. Her older son later used the trail to commute to his internship at Microsoft. Jeannie looks forward to seeing the Stevens Creek Trail and Wildlife Corridor extend to the Los Altos border and on to Cupertino and, ultimately, achieve the complete vision established over 40 years ago.

Garth has been running on the Stevens Creek Trail and in the Trailblazer race since 1997 when he lived in downtown Mountain View. Since moving to Sunnyvale in 2002, he has hoped to see the trail move closer to his new neighborhood. Garth joined the board in 2007 to take an active roll in moving the trail upstream. In addition to running, Garth enjoys golfing, swimming and spending time with his wife, Pamela and their two daughters, Charlotte and Kaitlyn.

Tim is a Sunnyvale resident (since 1989) and a passionate bicycle, environment, and sustainability advocate. He believes in balancing human and environmental needs -- we need more walkable and bikable communities to reduce the use of fossil fuel, get exercise, meet our neighbors, and have fun! Tim, his wife, 2 boys, and 2 dogs are regular trail users -- bicycling from Sunnyvale to the dog park in Mountain View. Tim looks forward to the day when bicycling/walking/running trails ring the bay and the ridges and "spoke" trails connect them along the Stevens Creek corridor and other routes. In addition to bicycling and family time, Tim enjoys hiking, X-C skiing, sci-fi, and AYSO soccer.

Kathy is a long-time downtown Mountain View resident. She has been on the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail board since 2001? and has served as secretary and vice president during that time. She regularly runs in our Trailblazer Race.

Shreyas Bharadwaj currently attends Lynbrook High School in West San Jose, class of 2012. He enjoys photography, mountain biking, classic literature, and piano. In his free time he likes to listen to music & read. When he graduates from high school, Shreyas hopes to attend Johns Hopkins University, UCLA, or UC Berkeley and pursue a career in the medical field as a neurosurgeon.

Tom Bornheimer joined the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail board in 2000 while he was living in his hometown of Los Altos. Tom now lives in San Francisco and works for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland. Personal interests include running, skiing, hiking, travel and photography.

John began volunteering for the Friends Trailblazer Race in the late 1990's. In 2001 he joined the board and has since served as board secretary and board president. A Mountain View native, John and his wife Libby Dresel live in Mountain View. John works as the Bike/Ped Program Coordinator for the City of San Jose.

Anne Ng is a 30+ year Cupertino resident and a bike advocate whose principal vehicle is her bicycle. After years of admiring and enjoying the trail as it grew south through Mountain View, then supporting the multi-use trail concept in Cupertino, she celebrated the opening of Cupertino's first stretch of Stevens Creek Trail in 2009.

Alan Ross is a twenty-five year resident of Mountain View involved with the Friends for thirteen years. He also worked with the Trail Center in Palo Alto for a number of years building and restoring local trails. He enjoys camping, hiking, and water sports and his hobbies include photography and travel. He graduated from the University of Phoenix and currently works in Mountain View in sales and technical support for a high- and ultra-high vacuum supplier.

Fritz is an R&D engineer and has been a Sunnyvale resident since 1980. He enjoys recreational bicycling around the Santa Clara Valley and Baylands, and believes the Trail will provide a richer life for all of us as well as a legacy for our children. He sees the process of bringing the Stevens Creek Trail through Sunnyvale as a community-building opportunity, and that the experience of residents working together will build habits & friendships that will serve us all well in a future with many more challenges.

William Symons is married with two young Children. He works as a technician at BMW of Mountain View and also as an indoor cycling instructor at the YMCA. His home is in Mountain View adjacent to Stevens Creek, but he became familiar with the trail when commuting to work from his previous home in Redwood City. He and his family really enjoy the outdoors. You will often find them on the Stevens Creek Trail cycling, scootering, skating, or skateboarding. Billy feels strongly about trail advocacy, and the benefit of trails for safe fun, exercise, and alternative commute options for ours and, especially, future generations. He joined the Board in 2006 to support the trail and its expansion, and to offset the opposition voiced by a few of his neighbors, whom he feels are mistaken in the belief that the trail is not beneficial to the neighborhood.

Art Takahara is one of the founding members of the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail and has served on the Board of Directors continuously since its founding in 1993. Art was instrumental in making the Stevens Creek Trail a priority in Mountain View when he served on the City Council and as Mayor. During that time, Mountain View developed its first feasibility study and plan for the trail and built the Reaches 1 and 2. Art is an active runner and hiker and has run in all of the Trailblazer Races.

Roy joined the Friends Board of Directors in December 2004. He was elected vice president in June 2005 and president in December 2006 (effective January 2007). He has lived in Mountain View for 33 years and enjoys biking on the trail as well as many other outdoor activities. Semi-retired after 26 years in corporate communications, he now works as a communications consultant. He is married with two grown daughters.

Rhonda Sherber, along with Art Takahara, founded the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail in December 1992. For the following 7 years she served on the board of directors and in various other positions including President and Trailblazer Race Director. Rhonda's energy and enthusiasm was amazing and she was a magnet for drawing people into the trail movement. She left the Friends in 1999 when she and her family moved to San Diego, though she has kept in constant communication and been back to enjoy most all of the continued successes of Stevens Creek Trail.

Tom Cronin joined the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail as the Executive Director in July 2006 and served through September 2007. Previously he has served as an Organizational Consultant for Earthome - Hooked on Nature, Executive Director at Committee for Green Foothills, and Program Director at Foundation for Global Community. This all follows a long management career with Hewlett Packard that ended in 2002. Tom first discovered Stevens Creek Trail years ago and used it extensively for training for running races and marathons.

Tom Frankum had a long tenure with Friends of Stevens Creek Trail before moving south to San Diego. During his time, he served as President and was always eager to speak around town to any of the groups that might be interested, including the Rotary, Kiwanis, or Leadership groups. Tom was not alone in his volunteer work to support the Stevens Creek Trail, though. His wife, Jan, was usually along to help staff the Friends booth at Art and Wine festivals, trail work days or other events. Jan also served as the Head Volunteer coordinator of the Trailblazer Race for several years.

Deepa Kollipara joined the Friends of Stevens Creek Trail as an Associate Board Member in 2007 when she was a sophomore at Monta Vista High School. Her passion with biking and biology drew her to the Stevens Creek Trail. As time went on, she became more interested in the environment and began to volunteer at the Trailblazer race where she got acquainted with the Friends. Her goals are to make the trail more accessible to students and to promote the rich wildlife that is so essential to the trail. Also, she hopes to promote the trail and get it into the public eye of students and residents near the trail. In her free time she enjoys playing badminton, biking on the trail, volunteering, and tae kwon do.

Christopher Lee was a high school junior at Monta Vista High School in Cupertino when he joined the board of The Friends of Stevens Creek Trail in 2005. Chris's passion for environmental biology and his desire to make a physical difference in the environmental world drew him to The Friends, and his position as an associate board member. In his spare time he enjoys riding his bike and hiking on and off the trail. Chris looks forward to the trail's extension into Cupertino, and hopes that trail brings the city as much gratification as it has brought to Mountain View.

Joe served on the Friends Board of Directors in 2007 and is still enthusiastic about the trail's potential for both recreational and commute uses. Following a finance career at Oracle, Hewlett-Packard, and Stanford University, he now serves as a volunteer in various capacities within the Mountain View Whisman School District and other communty organizations. He has lived in Mountain View since 1991 and is married with a son and twin daughters.

Deepti's training in urban and environmental planning is what first drew her to the race in the summer of 2006. She was quickly drafted to help with the Trailblazer Race as a volunteer coordinator. Since October 2007, a new baby boy has been keeping Deepti and her husband busier than usual. In 2008, Deepti took on a staff position to help out the Executive Director in the office and with record keeping at meetings.