top of page

In 2006, Portland's bike-fun organizers found themselves dealing with more and more bureaucracy and paperwork. Events like Carfree Day, the Multnomah County Bike Fair, and the World Naked Bike Ride were requiring insurance, alcohol permits, tax ID numbers, mailing addresses, and bookkeeping.

For years, the City Repair Project had generously provided these things for us. As events got bigger and involved more nudity and tall-bike jousting, we decided it was best for both groups to part ways. Those of us who found ourselves putting our contact info on noise variances, balancing budgets, and just generally trying to keep things legal got together and formed Umbrella in late 2006.

Ever since, we've been popping up to provide protection when needed and disappearing when not -- just like an umbrella.

BOARD (consider joining)

Adam Zucker, president

Sue Tsoi, treasurer

Ben Chaney, secretary

Matt Chmielewski (bio coming soon)

Matt Cleinman (bio coming soon)

Kirk Paulsen

Meghan Sinnott

Early Umbrella Board Members, 2007  Photo by Dat Nguyen

(Left-to-Right: Carl Larson, Steph Routh, Matt Picio, Heather Williams, Steven Kung, Micah Waldstein)

BOARD MEMBER BIOS

Adam Zucker (he/him) | adam.zucker@umbrellapdx.org | President | Joined 2017

Project Liaison for Breakfast on the Bridges, Brentwood Incubators, Friends of 7th Ave People's Plaza, The Ladd's 500, Multnomah County Bike Fair, Portland Bicycle Support Fund, Shift, and Why Isn't Anyone Talking About This?

Adam is an east coast transplant who has been living in Portland for over 20 years. Mt. St. Helens, the bottle bill, big trees, and yellow bikes inspired Adam to move and lay down roots in the Pacific Northwest. Ever since Bike Summer, he has been enamored with Portland’s bike culture and has sought out more ways to support and participate in this scene. Professionally, Adam is a water resources engineer and a wannabee transportation activist. Adam uses his knowledge of the mundane to support Umbrella and their projects.

Sue Tsoi (she/her) | sue.tsoi@umbrellapdx.org | Treasurer | Joined 2020

Sue is a transplant from New York City and has lived in Oregon for the past 25 years. She loves the variety of landscapes Oregon has to offer and how fun it is to live and work in Portland. By day, she is a professional land surveyor working at a private A&E consultant firm. The majority of her work has been focused on transportation/multimodal and infrastructure projects in Oregon. She has volunteered at the Oregon Food Bank and the Sunshine Division. She is a certified beer judge and has completed Levels 1-3 of the Wine & Spirit Education Trust (WSET).

Ben Chaney (he/him) | ben.chaney@umbrellapdx.org | Secretary | Joined 2017

Project Liaison for Better Block PDX

Ben moved to Portland in 2012 to attend Portland State University where he studied Transportation Planning and Engineering. He co-founded Better Block PDX together with other folks interested in using tactical urbanism for active transportation advocacy and equitable placemaking. He can be found exploring Portland by ebike with his partner from a home base in the Mt. Scott-Arleta neighborhood. 

Kirk Paulsen (he/him) | kirk.paulsen@umbrellapdx.org | Joined 2016

Project Liaison for Disaster Relief Trials and Northwest Skate Coalition

Kirk moved to Portland in 2010 and soon after fell in love with riding his bike around town for errands of all sorts, and realized just how valuable of a tool the bicycle, and other forms of human powered transportation, can be for a community. This, plus the social bike rides, resulted in memories that will live on forever for him, and he hopes to replicate similar experiences for others through his assistance with Umbrella. He chose to build upon his BS in civil engineering with an MS in civil engineering at Portland State University, and has used this education to transform his career into one that now has him designing transportation facilities for people that bike, walk, roll, and scoot throughout our urban landscapes. He enjoys living car-free in NE Portland with his wife, wonderful Corgi-mix of a pup Cordelia, and sun-loving bearded dragon Gimli.

Meghan Sinnott (she/her) | meghan.sinnott@umbrellapdx.org | Joined 2018

Project Liaison for PDXWNBR, Bike Summer, and Kidical Mass 

Meghan moved to Portland in 2001 to attend Lewis & Clark College where she wrote her thesis about bicycle subcultures of Portland. She's been involved in the active transportation and bike fun worlds since, acting as Filmed by Bike's Cultural Liaison on their Marketing Advisory Board, organizing and promoting bicycle events (including Oregon Manifest, Pedalpalooza, the Midnight Mystery Ride, the Tweed Ride, and more), teaching the Share the Road Safety Class, and working for Nutcase Helmets as Global Marketing Director. She lives car-free in NE Portland, OR with her husband, two step-kids, and bicycle-loving co-pilot, Aster (a beautiful black lab/collie/heeler mutt).

FORMER BOARD MEMBERS

Robin Cordo

LeeAnne Fergason

Ben Foote

Charley Gee

Steven Kung

Carl Larson

Matt Picio

Steph Routh

Lale Santelices

Lori Sills

Micah Waldstein

Heather Williams

bottom of page