Meet the Team
We operate as a collaborative team of staff, board members, volunteers, and community partners. Thank you to our dedicated carpenters, trail stewards, committee members, legislators, and neighbors for your support of our trail network.
Staff
Misha Golfman
Executive DirectorBefore joining MRTA, Misha served as a director of Mad River Path from 2023 – 2026. Before that, he was a co-founder and executive director of Kroka Expeditions for 28 years. Together with his partner Lynne, he has raised four children on a homestead and guided hundreds of wilderness expeditions in remote areas of the world. For 16 years, Misha led Vermont Semester students the length of the state on skis following the Catamount Trail, passing through, and falling in love with, the Mad River Valley. He believes an interconnected trail network is a powerful tool for social transformation and is excited to contribute his skills and experience to growing the MRTA.
Sarah Johnson
Communications SpecialistSarah joined the Mad River Trails Association as Communication Specialist in October 2024. Sarah is a Waterbury resident with connections in the Mad River Valley through her work at Yestermorrow Design/Build School. Sarah works in marketing, communications, and outreach for nonprofits, and in her free time can be found running, hiking, or knitting.
Jeff Doolittle
Implementation CoordinatorJeff joined MRTA as Implementation Coordinator in May 2026. He has been coming to the Mad River Valley to ski and patrol at Mad River Glen, hike the many trails, swim in the Mad River and enjoy the area for 40 years. He has been a part time resident of the MRV for over 10 years and in the last two years, he and his wife relocated from Connecticut to the Mad River Valley full time. As an Engineer for more than 34 years he worked on many projects that included new and improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and he realized how much these benefit communities. He fully embraces active transportation projects and is excited to work on improving and completing the Mad River Path. Jeff believes this project will be a great benefit to all the Mad River Valley communities, their residents and visitors.
Abby Bell
Community Engagement and Trail StewardAbby joined us in 2026 as an AmeriCorps Service Member and Community Engagement and Trail Operations Steward. Originally from Buffalo, New York, Abby came to Vermont in 2021 to attend the University of Vermont, where she earned her degree in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology. She fell in love with Vermont’s landscape, spending time in several towns before settling in East Montpelier. Abby is passionate about conservation and equitable access to nature, with previous experience in nature-based childcare and park and trail maintenance. In her free time, Abby enjoys skiing, birding, hiking, and gardening.
Board
Karrie Thomas
PresidentKarrie Thomas is Executive Director of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail and has lived in Fayston for over 10 years. She has been a nonprofit leader since 2000 and has spent her life pursuing opportunities to connect with landscapes, people and communities through time outside. She spends her free time mountain biking, skiing and paddling in the Valley and beyond, and cooking and reading fiction. She loves the way MRTA brings our community together through events and programming as well as creating the space to simply pass each other on a walk in the Valley.
Andrew Hally
Vice PresidentAndrew served on the board of the Mad River Riders for the five years before the Riders joined with the Mad River Path to create the Mad River Trails Association. Andrew has enjoyed recreating in the Mad River Valley for over 30 years and has been a second home owner here for the last 20 years. When not skiing, boarding, riding or paddling in the Mad River Valley, he works in the tech industry in Boston. Andrew’s passion for the MRTA’s mission is fueled by a desire to share the manifold benefits that bicycle-centered transportation and recreation have brought to his own life.
Emily Beliveau
Secretary
In her working life, Emily leads the execution of energy efficiency programs. She spends her free time exploring trails, swimming holes, and ski slopes in the Mad River Valley in addition to gardening, crafting, and reading. The Mad Trail Alliance has been integral to her family's quality of life as they use a Mad River Path trail to walk to the farmers market, creemees, and connect to town. Emily values the Mad River Trail Alliance's focus on connecting this community to ourselves, each other and the natural world through trails. She has lived in the Mad River Valley since 2022.
Dave Ellison
Co-TreasurerBorn in Los Angeles, Dave went to college on the west coast at UC Berkeley and Stanford. He joined Esso (now ExxonMobil) in Texas and was shortly transferred to the New York area, where he worked until retiring in 2000. He took up skiing after moving east, meeting his wife Janet at a Vermont ski lodge. We moved to Vermont upon retirement, where he continued skiing, bike riding, tennis and hiking and took up golf. Dave is involved with a number of service activities, including serving on the boards of the MR Valley Rotary Club and the Warren Library, along with the Mad River Path.
Steph Hartnett
Co-TreasurerSteph joins the MRTA board after previously serving as treasurer for the Mad River Riders. A CPA who traded public accounting busy seasons for ski season, she now sells accounting software (helping others to hopefully do the same!) While skiing initially brought Steph and her family to the Mad River Valley as weekend warriors, they quickly fell in love with everything else the Valley has to offer and are fortunate to call it home. An avid mountain biker, hiker, and dog walker, Steph is a frequent user of the MRTA network, and is excited to help MRTA further its mission of a connected, accessible trail network.
Kim Hall
After making the Valley home in 2020, Kim discovered mountain biking a year later and hasn’t looked back. She’s embraced just about everything mountain life has to offer—skiing, biking, hiking, snowshoeing, and occasionally convincing herself that riding uphill is fun. When she’s not on the trails or slopes, you can usually find her cheering on her kids, spending time with family and friends, volunteering somewhere in the community, or somehow finding time for one more project. A dedicated Mad River Riders/Rippers volunteer who’s always dreaming up the next adventure, Kim is grateful to be part of the people, trails, and incredible sense of community that make life in the Valley so special!
Jon Rickard
After skiing in the Mad River Valley for two winters, Jon’s family decided to permanently move to Warren, VT in 1970. He was drawn here by the outdoor focused lifestyle and the sense community. That is still why this is such a wonderful place to live. Jon is a retired residential general contractor who loves to ski, snowshoe, kayak,hike and garden. He always has a number of unfinished projects in his shop that keep him busy when not outdoors. Jon’s respect for the natural world and the connection to it has only deepened with his daily contact with the outdoors. Being part of the Mad River Trails Alliance allows him to bring that experience to more people.
Kathy Haskell
Committees
Trails Committee
The Trails Committee works hand in hand with staff on long-range and annual stewardship and new trail development projects.
Trails Committee Co-Chair
Trails Committee Co-Chair
Bob Kogut
Patrick Hartnett
Culley Thomas
Events Committee
The Events Committee supports the organization with planning and execution of the Mad River Triathlon, Grateful Gravel, and other key events.
Events Committee Chair
Programs Committee
The Programs Committee assists in developing and delivering high-quality outdoor educational programs and community group rides
Implemention Committee
The Mad River Path Implementation Committee represents five towns in coordinating the design and construction of the Mad River Path connecting the villages in the Mad River Valley
Community Partners
Community Partners are mission-aligned organizations and businesses, working together to grow the recreational economy, alongside improving social and ecological conditions in the Mad River Valley.
Friends of the Mad River, Mad River Valley Backcountry Coalition, Mad River Ridge Runners, Mad River Valley Planning District, Mad River Valley Chamber of Commerce, Mad River Valley Recreational District, Velomont Trail, Cross Vermont Trail, Northern Forest Canoe Trail, Vermont Land Trust, Central Vermont Regional Planning Commission.
Special thanks to our municipal partners, the towns of
Waitsfield, Warren, Fayston,
Moretown, and Middlesex.
MRTA is a chapter of the Vermont Mountain Bike Association.
MRTA is a proud member of the Vermont Outdoor Business Alliance and Vermont Trails and Greenways Council.
Corporate Sponsors
