It’s that time of the year again: Time to vote for your team’s leadership! Please take a moment to read the below statements of intent and consider who will best represent YOU!

Note: There will be three Director Seats open!

Voting will take place by Ranked Choice via OpaVote (for more info on how Ranked Choice voting works, click here). Online voting will begin on Monday, April 20th, and will be open for two weeks. Please be on the lookout for an email on Monday containing information on how and where to cast your votes!

If you have any questions, please email the board at: board@pptc.org

PRESIDENT
Candidate: Tom Meany (for re-election)

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
President and Chair of Race Committee

Why do you want to continue serving as President?
I am amazed how the leadership of our Club has pulled together during this pandemic crisis and has reached out to fellow members to assess and meet those needs, and continues to. We have been doing a great job all along, but this makes me both proud and grateful for all of you. We continue to evolve and thrive by seeking and nurturing creative ideas wherever they come from. And our corps of volunteers is always there and growing to make these ideas come to life.

Our Club’s mission is to support running, specifically in Brooklyn. We have expanded that mission to cover a multitude of issues, from supporting training, racing, competing, being healthy, socialization, giving grants and supporting charities. One of my favorite analogies is that of our Club being a surrogate family, but now it seems in many ways like a real family, reaching out to support Club members in need on every level. This is how a good family deals with a crisis. I am also proud to be a part of this great Club and especially its leadership team. These are the values that I will continue to work to support.

I humbly request your vote for the honor of continuing to serve as your President.

Please share a fun fact about yourself.
My priority in any task is figuring out how to make it fun. My grandson calls me "The Joker".

VICE PRESIDENT
Candidate: Adam Devine

*Note: Michael Ring will be retiring from his current role as Vice President. He will be highlighted and interviewed in an upcoming blog post.

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
I am currently a Team Captain and a member of the Board of Directors.

Why do you want to be Vice President?
I thoroughly enjoy serving in a leadership role in the club, and have enjoyed my time on the Board. I think that I have stepped up in a greater leadership role over the past year, and am looking forward to taking another step in formalizing that role.

Frankly, I owe more of my personal self-worth and satisfaction with my place in the world to the club and things that it has taught me than many would realize. I came into the club about five years ago not really thinking of myself as a runner, feeling intimidated and somewhat out of place. The club wrapped me in a level of warmth, kindness, and understanding that I have spent most of my time in membership trying to repay in whatever way I can. The club has definitely made me a better runner, but I think more importantly, it has made me a better person.

I am hopeful that I would continue to be of good service to the club going forward in this new role, if it comes to fruition.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I can clap one handed.

TREASURER
Candidate: Douglas Olney (for re-election)

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
PPTC Treasurer and Race Committee Member

Why do you want to continue serving as Treasurer?
It is a great privilege to be a member of PPTC: We are an amazing group of people. It's you, our member volunteers, and your enthusiasm, dedication, and willingness to pitch in that has brought us to our current position as one of the premier running organizations in all of New York City. Every day we make our mark as competitors, event organizers, and community supporters. Continuing to represent you as Club Treasurer is a task that I am happy to fulfill for another term - with your approval, of course.

Please share one fun fact about yourself?
I haven't missed a day of exercise (running, walking, bike riding, spinning, swimming or skiing) since December 28, 2018. 473 consecutive days and counting!

DIRECTOR
Candidate: Oren Efrati

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
I have been a member of PPTC since 2012. During those years I have been involved in various committees, and also led some informal initiatives within the club. Currently, I'm active in the membership, clothing and (to a lesser extent) the communications committee. I helped oversee our transition to our current membership platform, WildApricot, as well as helping to organize our various gear/clothing initiatives. I'm also very visible in organizing our group runs, as well as some destination runs.

Why do you want to be a Director?
I would love to join the board to help be part of our amazing leadership team that is moving our club in all sorts of new directions. The club has grown a lot over the last few years, and so we are now able to do more in terms of initiatives and programs. Not every event needs to be relevant to everyone, but anyone should be able to find at least some parts of the club that are appealing to them.

I would like to help increase the diversity of initiatives that we provide, whether it's something like a run to Rockaway Beach with food at the end, or helping to strengthen our trail racing or speed training options. Of course, in this current time where we are all dealing with the COVID-19 crisis, we need to shift the focus of the club. Hopefully that will be short-term, and we can all get back to enjoying each other's company in the real world soon.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
My first marathon was the 2012 Marine Corps Marathon, the day before Hurricane Sandy.

Candidate: David A Coleman

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
Race Committee Member

Why do you want to be a Director?
The club gives so much, I would like to do the same for all of our members by helping to support all the important things done for the community as a whole.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I’m a biker who’s learned that running can be even more fun than biking (but I do still like to bike)!

Candidate: Linda Chan

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
I'm a member of the social committee, grants committee, and the blog team. I've volunteered at the Al Goldstein Summer Speed Series, Turkey Trot, and Cherry Tree, and participated in last year's MTG (Marathon Training Group).

Why do you want to be a Director?
I've enjoyed being a member of PPTC and helping out where I can. I'd like to play a larger role in the club to keep it moving forward.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
Before running my first half-marathon (the 2009 NYC Half - the last year that the NYC Half was held in the summer), my longest run was a 7-miler the week before the race. I didn't know much about training for a half marathon and figured, if I can run 6 miles, I could finish the half-marathon. I set out for my 6 mile run – one of only a few runs I did leading up to the race – and ended up running 7 miles because I had (and still have!) a poor sense of direction, and missed my exit in Central Park. The following week, when I was running the race, I kept looking back to see if the sweep bus was on its way. Every time I looked back on the West Side Highway, I'd see a group of people and knew I was safe from the sweep bus. But that didn't stop me from checking until I hit the finish line.

When I finished, NYRR had run out of medals. They ended up mailing the medals to a bunch of us: It was a little anticlimactic to receive the medal in the mail a month later. The NYC Half course has changed, but I still enjoy the race...and I still look out for the pick-up bus. Here's hoping that we all get to run the NYC Half next year!

Candidate: Leanne Glasser

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
I am currently a member of the Social Committee: I’m always looking for fun ways to bring everyone together (especially during these difficult times of isolation), whether via virtual events, or planning for in-person events to come. I am also part of the Blog Team, helping to write pieces that highlight members doing amazing things, celebrate our club’s accomplishments, and share new and interesting information. Finally, I’m a Team Captain, which means I am lucky enough to work alongside a wonderful team of people dedicated to keeping the club as fun and inclusive as possible, while planning new and exciting initiatives for our members.

Why do you want to be a Director?
In short, I love this club. PPTC has given so much to me, and I would love the opportunity to give back to the club using some of my strengths. I am a teacher at heart, and love being able to help others realize their potential and set lofty goals, while feeling encouraged and inspired along the way.

As a new board member, I would be able to help with decision making, as well as brainstorming new ideas and programs that would help support our club and its members. Please know that I will always have the best interests of the club’s members at heart: I promise to provide a compassionate ear. My goals as a board director would be to ensure that our members are provided opportunities for goal setting, healthy lifestyle choices, inclusion, community, and growth mindset. I believe in PPTC’s mission and would love the opportunity to be on board to help support others by continuing to make our club available and inclusive for all.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I grew up in Canada, and for most of my life, we had a skating rink in the backyard that my dad built from scratch. It was a full family activity to maintain the rink. My dad would be outside every night with the hose, layering the ice so we could skate during the day. Our job – my brother, sister and I – was to be the “zamboni” and shovel off the rink before and after we used it. While I love to run, if you're ever looking for a skating buddy - shoot (or slap shot!) me a message 😜

Candidate: Marta Cabral

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
My involvement in PPTC revolves around doing my best to be a kind and engaged general member! In addition to participating in runs, meetings, and events, I volunteer often for all sorts of events, and have written a couple of blog posts as part of the communications committee.

Why do you want to be a Director?
I want to contribute to PPTC. So far, volunteering in races and other events has been the best way I found to be an active member. Seeing the call for Board Members made me want to be involved in a more committed way.

I have volunteered in different organizations and capacities for as long as I can remember, and have experience in different aspects of organizations. Some of these skills come more easily to me than others – I am an educator and artist, so am more inclined towards building community than crunching numbers – but am happy to contribute to PPTC in whatever way is most needed. My interest is in being actively engaged in helping, so if the club has other needs that you think I could serve, you are welcome to let me know!

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I have a freakingly small head that is served best by children's sunglasses. Maybe not that funny (you're certainly welcome to laugh!), but it makes eye protection a lot more colorful for sure!

Candidate: Allan Co

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
These days, our soon-to-be 3 year old and my job take up much of my time, but I try to volunteer when I can, whether it be by working shifts at our races, or crewing for fellow members during races. For the past few years, I’ve volunteered at AGSSS at least once a summer, and I’m currently working with PPTC captains and board members to review and improve Awards Night. In the past, I’ve held a leadership role as organizer and coach of PPTC’s first Marathon Training Group, for which I received the club’s Greatest Single Contribution Award in 2015.

Why do you want to be a Director?
I joined PPTC in 2012 because it was the kindest, most diverse and most inclusive club in Brooklyn. I’m so happy I made the choice: PPTC has connected me to countless community resources; it has introduced me to some of my closest friends; it has given me opportunities for leadership and service, such as when I spearheaded and coached PPTC’s pilot Marathon Training Group season; and it has helped me be a better runner and person.

I’m running to be a PPTC board member because I think as a community organization and local resource, we have the opportunity to do more for our members, our neighbors and our neighborhoods. As a club that prides itself on service and inclusion, it’s paramount that we empower anybody who wants to join PPTC, and that we engage with our broader community in ways that signal we are welcome, diverse, and happy to help - that the power of PPTC and empowerment through running is available for everybody.

PPTC welcomes members of all speeds and abilities, yet our membership has limited participation from people of color, from parents with young children, and from people from different economic backgrounds. This is especially true amongst our current leadership team, all wonderful people, who nonetheless represent a narrow population group of Brooklyn.

By leveraging my professional experience in community building and engagement with my relentlessly positive and kind attitude, I can help diversify the voice, representation and reach of PPTC's leadership team and the club as a whole, throughout and beyond Brooklyn. Some of my ideas include expanded programming for parents, directed grants to encourage low-income runners, and outreach to diverse outlets – especially for our banner races – to strengthen our overall membership and better serve our community.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I'm an architect with a passion for community-engaged design as a means to address socioeconomic inequality. This led me to relocate upstate for 2 years to work on community development in Poughkeepsie, NY, and we returned to Brooklyn in 2018. I now manage affordable housing development projects for Breaking Ground, NYC's largest provider of supportive housing for the formerly homeless. We currently rent an apartment in Fort Greene from PPTCers who moved to Oregon!

Candidate: Stephanie Mei

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
As I write this, I've been a member of the Race Committee for exactly one year, and just recently co-directed my first big race, the Cherry Tree 10-Miler. There is a lot that needs to be done to put on our handful of races, so I’ve worked to centralize, document, and produce materials to streamline the process - especially for future committee members.

Additionally, I've been involved with the 50th Anniversary Committee, on tasks such as coordinating the speaker panelists at this year's Harry's Handicap, interviewing our earliest club members, and planning for the 50-mile Ultramarathon in December (*fingers crossed*).

I volunteer in other capacities as well. My favorite volunteer activity was leading the 12 min/mile pace group for the last 10 miles of the NYC Marathon. It was very rewarding to see everyone realize that they could do it.

Finally, I get a kick out of making the name tags for our race day volunteers! When I was a newer member, it was difficult to remember the names of other volunteers, so I thought it’d be nice to make name tags and add a little note on the bottom to help break the ice. (Shameless plug: If you’d like to contribute a note about a fellow teammate/volunteer, please reach out to me via email or Facebook!)

Why do you want to be a Director?
PPTC has given to me in ways other than running. What began as an endeavor to make new friends and search for a healthier lifestyle became a transformative journey, in which I was able to find my voice and a sense of confidence that I sorely lacked. This growth has been and continues to be great, so I would love nothing more than to give back to the people that made it possible, by working to ensure the club continues to enrich our lives.

I bring with me open ears and an appreciation/curiosity for our club history. PPTC has come a long way in 50 years and will continue to evolve, but I hope that I can honor our roots while embracing our future.

It is with much humility that I believe I can be an even greater teammate to and supporter of you while serving on the board. If I can put a smile on your face in the process, well, that’d just be cheese ravioli on the pizza! [insert groans]

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I’m a big snowboarder and am still in pursuit of my goal to break 30 days on the mountain in one season: It’s my white whale (for NYC/East Coast standards)!

Candidate: Austin Maier

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
I'm an active participant in group runs, regularly attend monthly meetings, and volunteered at the 2020 Cherry Tree 10 Miler.

Why do you want to be a Director?
After three years of living in NYC without feeling grounded and connected to a community, I moved to Brooklyn and joined PPTC. I initially joined the club so I would have people to run with on the weekends, but ended up joining a far more substantial group than I expected! PPTC has become the centerpiece of my NYC community, and I’d like to give back to the club in a substantial way by helping shape its future.

I’m hoping to focus my efforts on adding more activities (e.g. additional destination long runs, a summer track meet, annual altitude camp), while continuing to foster the strength of our community through more robust communication channels for members.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I quit soccer when I was 8 because I hated running!

Candidate: Alison Kotch

In what ways are you currently involved in the club?
I am the Chair of the Blog Committee (as offshoot of the Comms Team), as well as a Social Committee Member.

Why do you want to be a Director?
Hi, PPTC! If we haven’t met in person at a group run or social event, it’s great to virtually meet you. I’m originally from New Jersey, and have been heavily involved in the NYC running community since moving to Brooklyn in 2009 – first as a committed New York Road Runners race participant and Achilles volunteer, then as a sales associate at Jack Rabbit in Park Slope and coach/mentor for Run4Fun, and most recently as a Prospect Park group training coach with NYRR.

During my early days as a Brooklyn resident, Prospect Park became a second home to me during half and full marathon training. Though I didn’t train with a watch or any type of real-time mileage tracker back then, I knew I could count on a couple loops of Prospect or Central Park to add up to the required weekly mileage to feel confident enough to finish each race (that is, when I didn’t feel like slogging through them on a treadmill).

So when I met Johnny, Etan, Tifenn and Yves while working at Jack Rabbit and they told me about PPTC, the decision to join a running club affiliated with the park was a no-brainer. Little did I know that training in the company of such a fast, dedicated crew would take me from casual recreational runner to obsessive (and slightly maniacal) Boston qualifier in a few short months, as well as a PR at my second NYC marathon. Though it’s true that every runner is responsible for their own performance on race day, I credit the positive energy, encouragement and enthusiasm of this entire club for helping me become a stronger runner than I ever believed possible.

Aside from the training stuff, though, little did I know how quickly my involvement in the club would snowball. I’m a social committee member who loves organizing fun runs – ideally involving beer, pizza, ice cream or coffee – as well as the wearing of ridiculous, festive, and/or fashionable running gear. This year, I also became chair of the Blog Committee, an unofficial part of the communications team with 14 active members. In this role, I coordinate the editing, writing and production of content submitted by club members. We started publishing regularly in January and have averaged about four posts a month, and are looking to increase the amount and variety of content we produce this year. If you have a story to share, let us know! We’d love to have you on the team as a valuable contributor to the club’s history, as well as an inspiration to other team members.

Stepping into Colleen’s role for the Board’s comms-related responsibilities feels like a natural fit, not only for what I do as part of the blog committee but in my professional life as well. As a freelance writer and managing editor who worked in the world of magazine publishing, I enjoy two things: keeping teams organized and sane, and working with writers to edit and craft stories that resonate with readers. Though that industry is shrinking by the day, brainstorming ideas to bring the club together during this unprecedentedly weird time in NYC has been really fulfilling, a sort of grassroots service journalism/community building effort that brings us together when we can’t come together in real life.

Personally, I think there’s never been a more exciting time to be a runner: We might not be able to run together as we did before for the time being, but we can also work together to find new ways to connect as a team, perhaps more effectively than we did before coronavirus altered our reality. It’d be an honor to have the opportunity to contribute to the club in a more official capacity as we work to increase our membership, and play a bigger part in bringing us all closer together.

Please share one fun fact about yourself.
I've been tested for allergies so I know I'm not allergic to the sun, but I sneeze when I'm outside in sunlight about 80 percent of the time (like, when I first go outside and am exposed to it). Doctors can't explain it and I can't either, but it's a funny quirk to have!

Text by: PPTC Members; intro by Stephanie Mei
Edited for clarity by: Alison Kotch and Jana Trenk
Photo editing by: Stephanie Mei
Produced by: Alison Kotch

2020 PPTC Board Elections

*PRESIDENT*Candidate: Tom Meany (for re-election)

*VICE PRESIDENT*Candidate: Adam Devine

*TREASURER*Candidate: Douglas Olney (for re-election)

*DIRECTOR*Candidate: Oren Efrati