Patrick Bergsma – President
Patrick moved to the Region of Waterloo in 2014 for school. You will find him mostly wearing his Dutch flat cap and running errands or enjoying a ride with his family on a genuine pre-loved bike from the Netherlands, which he bought from a store in Toronto.
Patrick grew up mostly on a farm and in a rural village in southern Ontario, so living in two different cities, Kitchener, ON and Langley, BC was a big shift for him. Patrick’s experiences have led him to a deep desire to live in a tightknit community. He realized that himself and others also thought living in a tightknit community with their local friends, religious community, and in their neighbourhood should be easy, but that isn’t always the case.
Eventually, Patrick travelled to the Netherlands for a few weeks, became a part-time content creator under the brand True Communities, and took some online courses in urban planning and creating livable spaces. He desires to listen and equip people with the knowledge and experience he has gained.
Janice Jim – Vice President
Janice has been cycling in Waterloo since her undergrad days. She is passionate about active transportation, transit, the environment, social justice and community building. Janice is the Chair of the City of Waterloo Active Transportation Committee. She’s active with Red Raccoon Bike Rescue and KW Famous. Janice is inspired by the work of the Dutch Cycling Embassy who aim to make cycling accessible to all ages and abilities through education, infrastructure and planning.
Maria Legault – Administration
Maria’s passion for time outdoors and physical activity has led her to cycle in rain, snow, and sunshine. She speaks enthusiastically to friends and colleagues on the many joys of active transportation. Her vision for a future is a community with many fewer cars, and a lot more opportunity for human connection and green space. In her day job, Maria is a project manager for a digital marketing agency. She works happily from home and uses her bicycle to get to exercise, appointments, and other life commitments.
Tom Strickland
Tom took up cycling again in 2016 after a 40-year hiatus. He is very much an “Interested but Concerned” cyclist and is a passionate advocate for cycling facilities that are fully separated from car traffic. He is a retired actuary, and a member of the Transportation Subcommittee of ClimateActionWR. He was awarded the Wheels of Change award in 2022 from the Share the Road coalition for his work on a ClimateActionWR team that evaluated the Cambridge cycling network plan with an equity lens, and developed a priority ranking model for potential new cycling facilities.
Brian Maloney
Brian grew up cycling around town in nearby Stratford, before moving to Waterloo Region for university.
After some years of driving a car by default, he decided to take a walk for every late-night junk food urge nearby. This moment of shameful motivation revealed the vibrant and refreshing street life that had been hidden for so long while driving. He now commutes daily to work in Cambridge with a trusty e-bike and now truly believes you don’t need to move away in order to live in a vibrant place. It was right here all along.
Zac Young – Member & Partner Relations
Zac is a lifelong cyclist, preferring to take two wheels year-round for his daily commute, exploring the world, and more recently, taking his two children around the Waterloo Region where he has lived since 2010. Zac studied Nanotechnology Engineering at the University of Waterloo, where he was a Junior Fellow with Engineers Without Borders Canada and started the WUSA Bike Rental Program. Today, he is a resident of Kitchener and active advocate for improving sustainability in transport, housing and energy, while leading an water treatment technology start-up, H2nanO.
Aldo Culquicondor
Aldo moved to Kitchener in 2018 to work in tech. In his free time, when he is not spending time outdoors, he reads and watches content about science, climate change and how urbanism can play an important role in decarbonizing our cities.
After learning how people bike year-round in Nordic cities, as well as in Calgary and Montreal, he decided to try commuting year-round to work himself. What followed was not just passion for cycling itself, but a process of discovering hidden gems and welcoming neighbors and communities in the tri-cities.
He is now committed to advocacy for safer and more accessible cycling infrastructure so that more people and future generations can enjoy a more sustainable Waterloo Region.
