Matt De Young Named Executive Director of MBOSC!

This is just a brief interruption to all the amazing updates you get in these emails…the trail work, the advocacy, the races, the general meetings. There’s a ton going on at MBOSC and I want to take a minute to recognize the driving force behind all that activity, Matt De Young. Matt’s been an incredible force for mountain-bike-goodness in Santa Cruz for many years, but joined MBOSC as its first full-time employee just a little over a year ago, in December of 2015. We agreed on a somewhat clunky title for Matt as ‘Trails and Business Manager’ because, well, he’s a trail guru and we knew we’d need his help driving the myriad other activities that make MBoSC tick. We had very high expectations of Matt based on the great work he’d been doing and we knew that you, the folks we represent as a Board, deserved the very best. What we couldn’t anticipate was how thoroughly Matt would crush those expectations in year one. In my time with Matt over the last few years, I’ve always admired his unique blend of talents. Matt’s our key liaison with our Land Managers and has earned their respect with a combination of strategic thinking and real ‘dirt under the fingernails’; he’s been the key to rallying and organizing the amazing community of volunteers that make Dig Days, The Old Cabin Classic, and all our other events’ huge successes; and, more recently, through both very public and very private outreach, Matt’s been our key voice as we advocate for expanded trail access (such as his excellent presentation at the City Council meeting last month). And he’s done it in a way that sheds the best possible light on our cause… he is likeable, open-minded, respectful, and a true believer in our collective cause, and I think we all see that. What folks might not have as great an appreciation for, though, is that Matt is also incredibly strategic in his approach and very, very driven to succeed. In short, Matt’s done everything we’d hoped for from a highly-capable leader for our deserving organization; so it’s with great pleasure that we announce Matt’s promotion to Executive Director of MBOSC. -John Leckrone, MBOSC President