Ron Brandt
Executive Director

After moving from Minnesota to Montana 22 years ago Ron spent 10 years in Bozeman, galvanizing his love for mountain biking in Montana’s backcountry. He and his wife Marti spent time 4 years in Bellingham, WA  before choosing to return to Montana and Marti’s hometown of Whitefish.

Within days of moving to our new home, Ron was already hooked into the local mountain biking community and looking to what the future could hold. He got to know the Flathead mountain bike community intimately while working at Great Northern Cycle and Ski for 3 years and eventually explored another side of the mountain bike industry with a career shift and work with Esker Cycles. He joined the FAMB board in 2015 and spent five years focusing on trails and advocacy within the organization. 
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Ron is truly excited about FAMB's future and the fantastic relationships the organization has built with the local land managers and all of the local partners. He looks forward to building on this momentum with our future work on the Taylor Hellroaring Project and is excited to help create and maintain these great resources we are so fortunate to have here in the Flathead.

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Stella Hobbs
President; Board member since 2019

Stella grew up exploring the trails of the Flathead Valley by foot and later found her love of traveling on two wheels when she started working at Great Northern Cycle & Ski in 2013. In 2016 she and her now husband, Willie bought the shop and have since kept their finger on the pulse of the local mountain biking community. Stella loves technical trails that require physical strength and mental focus and thinks that any day spent in the mountains is the best day ever. She comes to the FAMB board with a passion for organized lists and the development of new trails.

Lindsay Fansler
Vice President; Board member since 2020

Lindsay is a local realtor at PureWest/Christie's Real Estate and is dedicated to maintaining existing trail networks, and also sees great possibilities for future trail development in the Flathead. As an avid user of our trails, Lindsay believes he has a responsibility to ensure that future generations will be able to get the same enjoyment from our local trails as he does. As a father of two, Lindsay intends to pass on a legacy of trail stewardship to his children and the next generation of riders more generally.

Kelly Medler
Secretary; Board member since 2018

After leaving the West Coast and her kiteboarding and surfing gear behind, Kelly found a new passion for mountain biking. While not a life long rider, she greatly enjoys anything that keeps her outside and amongst friends for most of the day. She grew up in an outdoor family that greatly valued and championed access for all to the wilderness. She is excited to be on the FAMB board to continue to promote and develop access to the greatness that is the Montana Mountains and introduce new riders to a community that she has loved becoming a part of.   

Chase DeHan
​​Treasurer; Board member since 2021

Having recently relocated to Whitefish from Utah, Chase is passionate about mountain biking (particularly the gravity disciplines) and sharing the love of the outdoors with his wife and three daughters. Chase currently works as a Data Scientist at Nextdoor and holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Utah. An additional source of pride for Chase is that he competed in the 2010 Winter Olympic Trials in Bobsled.

Martin Emmot
Board member since 2019

Martin has spent the last six years keeping the bikes of the Flathead running smoothly at Glacier Cyclery and now at Great Northern Cycle & Ski. When he's not turning wrenches or placing parts orders, you would likely find him on the best natural single-track the area has to offer. Martin values the access to amazing trails and scenery available to riders of all abilities here in Montana, but at the end of the day, sometimes it's just bikes. ​

Tyler Hoppes
Board member since 2020

Originally from Ohio, Tyler and his wife both feel very happy and fortunate to live in the Flathead with their two children. Tyler is an emergency physician at Kalispell Regional. Aside from his passion for mountain biking, Tyler enjoys our wonderful winters through downhill skiing, Nordic skiing and occasional fatbiking. He also enjoys learning new musical instruments (though he humbly claims to play none of them well), cooking, and sampling some of the valleys finest breweries. Tyler is excited to serve on the FAMB board because he is passionate about preserving and enhancing our mountain​ biking opportunities in the Flathead.

Tom Kosmalski
Board member since 2021

Tom is an avid mountain biker and skier with a fair bit of experience with volunteer organizations, having served on the board for the Columbia Gorge Wind and Water Association (CGW2) for quite a while and being very active with the Hood River Area Trail Stewards (HRATS) over the years. There used to be some mountain bike endurance racing in Tom's life, but now he just rides for fun and mostly prefers rough cross country such as the Pig Farms trail system. Tom recently moved with his wife back to her home stomping grounds of Montana and is stoked to be involved with a grassroots organization like FAMB!

Ben Johnson
Board member since 2021

​Ben has been a passionate mountain biker ever since he put a suspension fork on his 21-speed Scott Arapaho when he was in fifth grade, pedaling around the streets of his hometown, Hamilton, MT. Ben moved to Whitefish in 2018 where he currently works in a funding development and outreach role for a Kalispell-based youth nonprofit, in addition to serving as a board member on the Whitefish Housing Authority. Ben is stoked to bring his experience in community engagement, youth programs, and fundraising to FAMB in helping to support the awesome biking community we have here in the Flathead!

Justin Johnston
​Board member since 2022

Justin Johnston was a founding member of the Kittitas County Bike Alliance in Ellensburg, WA. He helped facilitate the group's assimilation into the state wide Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance. This helped the group gain financial stability and advocacy power. As a member he spent numerous hours building trails and working with landowners to secure access for additional trails. Justin moved from Washington to the Flathead Valley in 2015. He has been impressed by the enthusiasm of our local mountain bike community and wants to play a more active role in supporting our local trails, advocacy and education.​