The Board of Directors for MAMBA is comprised of community members and cyclists with a broad range of expertise and a wealth of passion, each committed to building and supporting the future of mountain biking in the Greater Morgantown area.
John N. Herod, III
President
John Herod is a native West Virginian and life-long ambassador of and advocate for mountain biking in West Virginia. A successful semi-pro downhill racer from 1998 to 2004, he won the NORBA Mid-Atlantic Cup in 2002. In 2014 he co-founded the WV Enduro Series to showcase the state’s unique, rugged, and beautiful trail systems. During his tenure as the series organizer, 2014 to 2019, he cultivated successful partnerships with non-profit groups, public and private land owners, and local business to raise the profile of riding in the mountain state more than doubling rider participation after the first year of the series and attracting riders from over a dozen states.
Herod sees a bright future for cycling in West Virginia and believes that cultivation of a robust trail system and preservation of the state’s natural resources provide unique economic development opportunities in ecotourism for the area. He looks forward to the challenge of his term as president of the newly-formed MAMBA organization.
When not riding and trail building, Herod works as the owner and operator of Better Builders, LLC. He is a third-generation, master tile setter, general contractor, and amateur photographer. He lives in the City of Morgantown with his wife, Rebecca, and faithful doberman trail companion, Lucky.
Andrew Walker
Vice President
Growing up in Massachusetts, Andrew spent most of his young life exploring the wilderness areas of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. An avid outdoor enthusiast he decided to move to the Mountain State in 2002 and earned his degree in Political Science and History from WVU. In addition to currently working at West Virginia University as a full-time staff member of Adventure WV, Andrew is also working on his master’s in public administration. Andrew has also been a member of several collaborative organizations such as the Morgantown Municipal Bicycle Board. Andrew is a founding member of the MAMBA Board of Directors , and has served as Vice-President since 2019.
Andrew has been a prominent figure in Morgantown’s outdoor community through his work at the outdoor retail store, Pathfinder of WV, and through his high-profile events such as the Motown Throwdown. When not at work rest assured, he’s either spending time with his wonderful wife Jennifer, logging miles on one of his favorite gravel back roads on a bike ride with friends, or cruising one of the area’s many amazing mountain bike trail systems.
Jesse Cecil
Secretary
Jesse has a deep conservation ethic, and views development of outdoor recreation as the path to a brighter future for WV communities. He has a diverse education from West Virginia University with a B.S. in wildlife management and a graduate education focusing on editorial & science journalism, and his professional experience is in business management and conservation. Jesse is currently Operations Coordinator with the West Virginia Land Trust, and is a founding member of the MAMBA Board of Directors, serving as Secretary since February 2021.
A child of Appalachia, Jesse was born in Roane County, West Virginia, and grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Floyd, Virginia. He moved to Morgantown nigh 20 years ago to attend undergrad at WVU and never left. Though riding bikes since he was knee-high to a grasshopper, Jesse is a relative noob to the modern mountain bike scene — he hit the trails in 2017 and never looked back. He and his wife Kristi have two daughters, Seneca and Isla Jane, who are naturally being raised to love the outdoors and ride bikes with gusto.
Amy Dierman
Treasurer
Amy is a CPA from Morgantown, WV. She is adventurous and is a beginner rider who is excited to explore and help create new trail systems. She recently became an 200 RYT Yoga Teacher and in her spare time loves to travel and scuba dive. Amy is a founding member of the MAMBA Board of Directors , and has served as Treasurer since 2019.
Andy Brozik
Member at Large
Andy grew up in Morgantown and is a lifelong mountain biker. He is a graduate of West Virginia University and has worked in the bike industry for 20 plus years. He takes great pride in teaching his two children the joys of mountain biking and looks forward to the days of bringing them along on his biannual mountain bike journeys. His 2016 USA Cycling West Virginia XC Mountain Bike Clydesdale State Champion gold medal hangs proudly on his office wall as proof that he does, in fact, ride bikes. Andy is a founding member of MAMBA, and has served as an at-large member of the board of directors since 2019.
Colin Dierman
Member at Large
Colin is a Morgantown resident and lifetime cyclist. He is a member of the White Park Trail Advisory Group and volunteers with BOPARC to perform trail building and maintenance in the local parks. Colin is the General Manager of Wamsley Cycles in Morgantown, WV. He is also the 2019 GNCC eMTB National Champion and a current member of the Impakt Media eMTB race team. Colin is a founding member of MAMBA, and has served as an at-large member of the board of directors since 2019.
Bonnie Ammons
Member at Large
Originally from Frederick, Maryland, Bonnie moved to Morgantown in 2000 after graduating from James Madison University. Bonnie grew up running around in the woods and spent summers in her younger days sharing that love by working in outdoor tourism as a raft guide and commercial cave tour guide. Early in her time in WV, she took up road biking and triathlon with her husband, Jeff, before having 2 energetic boys and later embracing the switch to Mountain Biking as a family sport. Bonnie quickly fell in love with riding in the woods and currently is an enthusiastic Coach-Volunteer with our local NICA (National Interscholastic Cycling Association) team. Go Trailhawks! She enjoys traveling to other mountain biking destinations with her family and looks forward to encouraging others to enjoy the beauty and challenge that Morgantown Area trail systems have to offer. Bonnie is especially passionate about encouraging women to ride and for whole families to ride together because riding bikes is FUN!
BJ Knabenshue
Member at Large
BJ Knabenshue is a systems engineer developing spacecraft simulators supporting NASA, and a lifelong resident of WV. He started riding in the woods outside Buckhannon, WV early in his teens in the days of bar ends and cantilever brakes. BJ is a graduate of West Virginia University , and wrenched at various bicycle shops during college to feed his bike habit.
Over the years, BJ has ridden both road and cyclocross, but his heart is in mountain biking. He loves to jump his bike off of things and sometimes even land it. Cycling is common thread across BJ’s life, he met his wife Traci on a bike and they now enjoy passing their love of cycling on to their children, who are learning to mountain bike on the Morgantown trails. He joined the MAMBA board of directors in March 2021 to help protect and grow mountain bike opportunities in the Morgantown area.
Drew Gatlin
Municipal Liaison (Non-Voting)
Drew can’t figure out if he likes tinkering on or riding bikes more. He works as an engineer and has a bad habit of serving on too many boards and commissions, due to his dedication to public service and healthy community development. Although he grew up riding on the road in flat country far away, his relocation to West Virginia kindled a fascination with mountain biking, trail construction, and land management. Drew was a founding member of MAMBA, and served on the board of the directors as the organization’s secretary from December 2019 through February 2021, resigning to address the need to maintain a healthy work/life balance. Drew continues to interface with MAMBA in an ad-hoc technical and advisory capacity.
MAMBA 