Our FB4K MN Staff and Board 

Free Bikes 4 Kidz MN is led by a passionate and engaged staff and board of directors. Find out more about them below.

 

FB4K MN Staff

Jay Zemke – Executive Director

Email Address: Jay@FB4KMN.org

As Executive Director of Free Bikes 4 Kidz MN, our mission and purpose is geared toward helping all kids ride into a happier healthier childhood by providing bikes to those most in need. Free of charge. Other responsibilities including operations and strategy; securing financial stability and serving as a spokesperson but the most important is to put kids on bikes. 

 

 

Michelle Abramson Dankwerth – Host and Guide

Michelle joined FB4KM staff in the fall of 2021 as host/guide. She was initially drawn to FB4K as a volunteer in 2015 through her love of bikes. The experience was so profound, Michelle brought her family to volunteer the following year and every year since. Together, Michelle and her family volunteered in many roles: Spanish translators, bike movers/unloaders, registration/greeters, cleaners, preppers and give away guides. Michelle often shares that what surprises her most about working at FB4K is the gift it has given back to her family. The experiences taught her kids, Abbey and Eli, the importance of helping others, working hard and how a person can make a difference in a child’s life. Seeing the smile on another child’s face when they select their new bike and knowing they helped make it happen has been fantastic!

While Michelle’s official role is host/guide, her happy place, especially during COVID, is in the boneyard salvaging usable parts. She has secret ambitions of becoming a mechanic!”

 

 

Audrey Sheffield – Host and Guide

Audrey started as a volunteer for FB4K in 2013, and after 3 days of retirement in 2021, joined the FB4K MN team as a host and guide. She enjoys getting her hands dirty on a bike and teaching basic repair skills to volunteers. When not working with volunteers, she can be found outdoor adventuring in all weather. 

 

 

 


FB4K MN Board of Directors

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Dan Swartz – Co-Chair

A commercial real estate broker who once rocked Coachella and made money as a Jerry Seinfeld look-a-like, strives to convince his kids he is still cool. Dan rules the road on his Specialized Tarmac and Salsa Beargrease fatty.

 

 

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 Jeff Lundgren – Co-Chair

Retired financial services executive, Jeff Lundgren has returned from 9 years in London to get Free Bikes 4 Kidz MN finances cranking. Cheers! He’s clearly a roadie, ready to cruise on his Cannondale Synapse, Focus Mares and Pashey Countryman.

 

 

 

Gretchen Graham – Secretary 

Gretchen worked in the bike industry for 10+ years and is currently working in supply chain. She loves to ride in Cuyuna with her family, which is her favorite place to travel to in Minnesota. In the summer you can find her watching youth sports and enjoying the sun with a beverage on a patio. Her favorite daily routine is trying to skunk her hubby playing cribbage. Her favorite bike is her Civia which she often gets mistaken for the wicked witch on. 

 

 

 

Matthew Kennedy – Treasurer

Former bean counter before becoming a client spokesman for HairClub for Men. When not modeling and putting miles on my Wilier, I play an amazing #2 parent with an even more amazing wife to Monroe and Maris.

 

 

Britt Monson

Marketing and branding by day, downhill skiing in the winter by night and weekends – spending time with her family/friends/dog OUTSIDE every chance she gets. Born and bred a MN girl, she calls Savage home but always counting the days to get on skis or hit a trail in MT (where her sister/daughter live).

 

 

 


Joan Weber

With a long career as an painter and illustrator, Joan has unleashed her creative powers to make Free Bikes 4 Kidz MN look good and feel good in the world of social media. Her wheels are always turning.

 

 

 

Adam Clarke

Experienced IT leader and longtime lover of bikes. In 7th grade he rode to school many days through a Minnesota winter as a challenge with a friend – surprisingly that only made him like riding even more and ever since he has been hooked. Adam‘s favorite place to ride is Cuyuna on his Salsa Rustler. Worked in the bike industry for 15+ years, and his most recent bike related accomplishment was reducing the size of his herd from 10 bikes to 5.

 

Linda Stone

An experienced lawyer who also helped lead the revitalization of a grant-making non-profit, Linda helps to fuel the kids in her current work as a strategic director for an organization focused on relieving hunger for Minnesota’s kids. Her first bike was a green Schwinn, still remembered while she turns the crank on her De Rosa.

 

 

Martha Hoeppner

Martha Hoeppner is the mother of three children, a dog lover, and an avid cyclist. She loves the outdoors and is a believer in the power of exercise when it comes to creating healthy and energetic people. One of the reasons Martha is excited about the opportunity to serve the Free Bikes 4 Kids organization is because she believes that all kids deserve the opportunity to be outside and on two wheels. We have an amazing park/trail system in the Twin Cities and providing bikes for all kids in need is a powerful way to promote healthy change. Martha is an educator and is passionate about serving children, especially in areas where systems are failing them.  Recently, Martha has worked to serve children in North Minneapolis with after school tutoring, organizing an annual coat drive, and providing food resources to people in need.  Martha enjoys using her outreach skills to connect with communities and bring people together for the greater good.

 

Bryan Wall

Bryan Wall is an experienced digital marketing leader specializing in customer acquisition. Loves riding trails and enjoying nature. Bryan also builds bicycles including fillet brazing his own frames. Previous board work includes Make a Wish, Stages Theater, and the Leland Johnson Common Vision program. Loves Free Bikes 4 Kids for its mission to provide bikes to those most in need.

 

 

Phil Wolpers

A seasoned problem solver and technology leader, Phil cut his professional teeth in the bike industry.  More recently he has held strategic roles in technology product management across retail and logistics leaders.  When not in the office, supporting FB4K MN, or spending time with his wife and two kids, Phil loves maintaining his bikes almost as much as he loves riding them with family and friends on all the beautiful tarmac, gravel, and dirt that Minnesota has to offer. 

 

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Terry Esau – Board Member Emeritus

The now National ED, this composer, producer, music super­star gave up his successful career to write books, ride bikes and become the fearless founder of Free Bikes 4 Kidz. He rides a Trek Madone with Di2 that costs more than his car­­, which says more about his car than his bike.