USHGF Biographies

The USHGF Board of Trustees is comprised of seven individuals. They are elected by the sitting trustees and serve for three years. The current trustees, managers, and committee members all come from the flying community and have a vested interest in furthering and preserving Hang Gliding and Paragliding. Collectively, this group has been involved closely with Hang Gliding and Paragliding for many years. They come from various parts of the USA and represent a wide variety of pilot interests and backgrounds. All serve as volunteers to help make the USHGF's vision a reality and help preserve the sport for all.

Stephen Onstad, President

Stephen comes from a financial information technology and management background. He has been a paraglider pilot for 11 years. He became a trustee in 2001 and served as the foundation Treasurer until 2003 when he accepted the position of President. Stephen worked closely with Jim Maze, the previous USHGF president, to help guide the foundation though a needed "restructuring" phase from 2001 to 2005. He currently resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where everyday is Saturday.

 

 

Bill Bolosky, Vice President, Marketing and Development Committee Member        

Bill comes from a business and engineering background and resides in Washington State. He is a past president of USHPA and current member of the USHPA Board representing region one. He has been a Hang Glider Pilot for many years. Bill brings a wealth of experience to the Foundation with his involvement with the USHPA and national issues that face our sport. He has been very instrumental in the last few years in promoting the Foundation to the USHPA board and membership and has been extremely helpful in coordinating efforts between  the two organizations. Bill also chairs the Foundation's Bylaws Subcommittee.

 

 

Randy Leggett, Treasurer, Grants Committee Member

Randy comes from a business background and resides in eastern Pennsylvania. He has been a Hang Glider Pilot for 23 years and recently became a licensed sailplane glider pilot. He has been involved with the USHGF since 1999 and was one of the main influences in its revitalization. Randy has been helpful in the USHGF's restructuring and to expand its mission to include site preservation. His home flying site is Kirkridge, PA. Randy is past President of the USHPA, chair of its Site Committee and currently an Honorary member of the USHPA Board.

 

 

Liz Sharp, Secretary, Operations Committee Member

Liz keeps the foundation on track and serves as our sergeant at arms and scribe. She has been closely associated with the USHPA since 1980. Liz is currently a Director at Large and Secretary of the USHPA. She sits on the Executive Committee, the Competition Sanctioning Subcommittee, and is Chairman of the USHPA Organization and Bylaws Committee. Liz started flying hang gliders in the mountains of Colorado in 1977.

 

 

Connie Locke, Executive Director

Connie accepted the position of Executive Director of the Foundation in the Spring of 2006. She also continues as a member of the Grants Committee which she joined when she first becoming an active Foundation volunteer in 2004. Hang gliding became her sport of choice in 1982. She owned and operated the Dunlap Flight Park in Dunlop, California, for 20 years. Connie served as a director of the USHPA in the early 1990's, is past chair of the Safety and Training Committee and is currently an Honorary Director. She is dedicated to the Foundation's goal to save and develop flying sites throughout the US.   

                  

 

Douglas Sharpe, Trustee, Grants Committee Chair

Doug comes from an engineering background and lives in Massachusetts. He has been a Hang Glider since 1974 and Paraglider pilot since 1989.  Doug has been involved with the USHGF since 1999 and was one of the main influences in revitalizing the foundation. His home flying sites are in the New England area. Doug was a director of the USHPA for 5 years representing region 8. He has other experience working with foundation boards and is very interested in developing the foundation into a major contributor to sport flying.                

 

 

Russ Locke, Trustee, Operations Committee Chair                      

Russ comes from a business background and resides in central California. He has been a Hang Glider pilot for 25 years. Russ accepted a trustee position with the foundation in 2004 and looks forward to help furthering its new mission. Russ brings a tremendous wealth of experience and years of work with the USHPA as a director and member of the Executive Committee. He was instrumental in the initial establishment of the Foundation in the early 1980s.

 

 

 

Mark Forbes, Trustee, Operations Committee and Grants Committee Member

Mark comes from an engineering background and lives in western Oregon. He is a biwingual pilot and has been flying since 1994. Mark brings a strong operations background to the USHGF. He is a USHPA board member, the USHPA Treasurer, and chairs the USHPA Insurance and Elections committees. Mark typically flies along the beach or one of the many inland coastal sites of Oregon with a little airtime in Florida and Southern California; Australia too.

 

 

 

Riss Estes, Trustee

Riss was elected a Trustee of the Foundation March, 2006.

 

 

 

John Greynald, Grants Committee Member

John comes from a business background and resides in Santa Barbara, California. He has been an active Hang Glider pilot since 1981.  John is a prior trustee of the foundation and remains active in with the Grants Committee. John is a current member of the USHPA Board of Directors and serves on their Site Committee. His experience with site acquisition and site retention projects together with his knowledge of USHGP's Site Committee issues is a great asset to the USHGF. 

 

 

Lisa Tate, Marketing and Development Committee Chair

Lisa is a Hang Glider pilot living in the Boise area and owner of Soaring Dreams, a glass art studio. She brings years of experience in foundation management to the USHGF. Lisa is current President of the USHPA and  Region 5 Director.

 

 

Jonathan Kelley, Marketing and Development Committee Member

Jonathan comes from a business back ground and lives in Cleveland, Ohio. He has been hooked on free flight since his feet first left the ground on a paraglider in 1993. He spent a few years in Aspen, Colorado living and flying. After moving back home to Cleveland he started his own business. He believes the future of Hang gliding and Paragliding is in protecting the land we use.

 

 

 

Matt Cunningham, Marketing and Development Committee Member

 

 

 

      

Jennifer Beach, Operations Committee Member, Ethics Subcommittee Chair

Jen leads the foundation's data management, project coordination, and ethics development and oversight. Her expertise lies in business management. She has been flying seven years and is an active member of the Rocky Mountain Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association and served as its president for three years. Jen is currently a Honorary Director of the USHPA.

 

 

 

Jayne Depanfilis, Marketing Committee Member and USHPA Liaison

Jayne advises and contributes to our Marketing Committee and serves as our liaison with the USHPA. Jayne served as Executive Director of the Foundation our reorganization and restructuring; 2000 through 2005. She is the Executive Director of the USHPA and publisher of Hang Gliding and Paragliding Magazine.

 

 

Dixon White

Dixon, among all the other things he did for the sport of hang and paragliding, served the foundation as advisor on a number of site preservation issues. He was a key factor in assisting us with our first site preservation grant which was made to preserve the Mingus Mountain site in Jerome, Arizona. His contribution will be sorely missed. Thanks Dixon.