Management Committee
BIKESydney’s management committee is elected at our Annual General Meeting. All committee members are volunteers.
President: David Borella
David was seduced into cycling by the endless separated cycleways of Canberra, which to a six year old, rendered a city a universe. Reaching its outer edges required day passes, plates of gnocchi and speed; which itself required ever-improved braking. The weekly overhaul of the bike became daily, and inevitably, upon recognising the need to upgrade the mania for middle age, re-constituted itself as advocacy for cycling infrastructure. The only lesson learned was that there was no point fine-tuning that which was only ever going to be inadequate at best…. And that was just his experience as an advocate in London. Sydney has even faster and more menacing cars… We’ve even more need for the bicycle - the very symbol of, and mechanism for returning our city to the human scale. People, bikes, connections, discussions….
Vice President: Nick Bonich
Nick was cleverly managing his bike cravings until the ripe old age of 30, when, after crying over some spilt milk, he thought he’d try something new. Upon moving to Sydney in 2008, selling the car and settling into the Eastern Suburbs, the rush kicked in: Nick’s hitherto suppressed passions for tinkering and going really, really fast melded into a full-blown bike obsession. Pumped full of two-wheeled passion, this one-man whirlwind is devoting his life (or at least the next 2 years) to becoming a cycling change agent – and inspiring, persuading, cajoling or outright badgering anyone he meets into finding bike love. For the first time in his life he sleeps peacefully, despite causing sleepless nights for others. But at least he shows up for meetings…
Secretary: Sarina Foulstone
Sarina’s love of bikes first arrived as a kid playing cops and robbers with her brother and sister around the local streets – always as the good guy of course. After many years away, she was inspired to get back into the saddle about 10 years ago by a work colleague who would walk past her desk every day in his cycling kit. Starting out again as a recreational rider checking out the sites of Western Sydney on her two-bob Trek, she thought riding from Ryde to Liverpool would be a cinch …but changed her mind on that on the ride home! Nonchalantly, Sarina embraced commuting by bike – now, her main mode of transportation – and is now convinced that her purpose on Earth is to encourage others that biking really is best.
Treasuer: Kirk Davis
Kirk’s busy with the numbers at the moment…
Ordinary Members (though we think of them as extraordinary members!)
Adrian Emilsen
Adrian developed a passion for cycling during his mid-twenties after a trip to the cycling Mecca of Copenhagen. From a background in urban planning, he quickly realised that cycling was a critical absence in both his own education and in Sydney’s urban planning. For the last five years Adrian has worked in cycling advocacy. He combines biking with public transport to travel just about everywhere in Sydney. Adrian is also something of a late starter in world of competitive cycling and hasn’t quite given up his fantasies of being an elite athlete just yet.
Omar Khalifa
From an early age Omar was a keen cyclist. His first major purchase with his own money was a banana-seat low rider bicycle from the Sears catalog when he lived in New York. Many years later Omar transitioned from working on the Space Shuttle program to working for Apple, the Business Council for Sustainable Development, Telstra and Optus and more recently with not-for-profits. He’s often straddled his two passions – the environmental and innovation.
While Omar says he always enjoyed hopping on a bike for exercise, commuting and a bit of touring, he never would have predicted that he would become involved in advocating for it – never mind having led an organisation like Bicycle NSW. Omar feels there is a need for change and he is driven to apply his efforts and experience so that more people can appreciate the simple joys of cycling. He also believes a society with more cyclists and fewer cars would be a much nicer place to live or visit. To that end, he is now developing Go! Alliance to support community efforts towards transport and mobility choices.
Oliver Cashman
We’re still considering how to package Ollie’s bike greatness into just a paragraph…
