2021 Leadership old
2021 ORPCA Board of Directors
This is my 17th year as an Oregon Porsche Club member. I joined the club after purchasing my first Porsche. Because of my responsibilities to my work and the Naval Reserve I was not very active in club events. I would attend the car corral at the Historic Races every year, but that was about it. I think a lot of members can relate to this. I was so busy in my work and personal life I didn’t have time to enjoy what the club had to offer. After I retired that all changed so my wife, Winnie, and I began attending the monthly socials. We met dozens of individuals that we would never have met absent of club functions. Many of these members have become very good friends over the years.
I have served as Membership Chair, Secretary, Vice President, and now I am in the second year of the Presidency. Thank you all for your support and, especially, thank you to the ORPCA Board of Directors and others who work very hard. They spend long hours behind the scenes to bring you safe events, manage the club website and produce the club magazine, the Anzeiger.
I hope to see you at a club event soon!
For my wife Cathy and I, the Porsche experience started with a trip to a car dealership in 2005 to look at a special edition of an Audi TT. Sitting on the show room floor along with the Audi was a Guards Red 1995 Porsche Carrera cabriolet. After taking both cars out for a test drive, it was obvious which was the better car. I asked my wife which of the cars she preferred, and she pointed to the red Porsche. We took the Carrera home that day and joined PCA and ORPCA that same year. Like a lot of new members, the first ORPCA event we attended was a Saturday Arrive and Drive. That was followed by a few Wednesday dinners and some more Arrive and Drives. In 2006 the Porsche Parade was in Portland, and I volunteered to help. That really began our journey with the Porsche Club.
Over the years we hosted Wednesday dinners, helped with events like the club’s 50th anniversary in 2009, the 911 50th anniversary at Skamania Lodge, car corrals at Concours d’Elegance in Forest Grove, and club tours. My involvement with ORPCA increased in 2015 when I was nominated to serve on the ORPCA Board of Directors and stepped up a bit more when I became President in 2017. While involvement in the club is time consuming, the benefit is meeting and working with some amazing people, who own and drive some amazing cars. In 2018, the benefit of meeting members worked out for us in a different way. With the commitment to attend events as President came a lot of driving. We decided that we didn’t want to add that many miles to the 95 Carrera. Maybe that was just an excuse to go looking for another car, but looking I went. The stars aligned because a car I had admired for a couple of years came up for sale. The car was ORPCA member Joe Kelly’s 2008 Porsche Design Edition Cayman S. Knowing Joe and how he maintained his cars made the purchase easy. The year 2020 will mark our 15th anniversary with the Oregon Region of the Porsche Club of America.
The purchase of a Porsche and joining ORPCA was a great decision. We are looking forward to many more years of playing with cars.
I have served as Membership Chair, Secretary, Vice President, and now I am in the second year of the Presidency. Thank you all for your support and, especially, thank you to the ORPCA Board of Directors and others who work very hard. They spend long hours behind the scenes to bring you safe events, manage the club website and produce the club magazine, the Anzeiger.
I hope to see you at a club event soon!
This year I continue my second year as your Vice President. As I was preparing this bio, I tried to look back and figure out where my passion for sports cars started. I finally realized that it began when I spent a high school summer as a nanny for a family who had a 1967 Mercury Cougar. It was dark maroon with black leather seats. I was allowed to drive it home when I finished work. I was on Cloud Nine driving that car!
My first Porsche was a bronze colored1986 944. After that car I did not get another Porsche until 2014 when I got my first Boxster. My debate when we bought it was: stick-shift or PDK. There were two cars at the Bend dealership that were exactly the same except for that. E.C. Mueller, the retired GM of Portland International Raceway, had told me about the PDK and how wonderful it was, so I went with the PDK and never regretted it. It was a S model that was black with a tan interior. That car was so much fun.
My goal for 2021 is divide up the Communications Director position into smaller pieces. I am also looking forward to some drives this year, doing Autocross and the Crater Lake Tour that my husband and I are organizing. Hopefully we can get a social or two in this year as well. You can always contact me by clicking the mail icon above!
Even though I test drove my first Porsche in 1986, the financial priorities of life kept creeping in and I did not finally buy my first one until 2015, a white 2011 911S Cabriolet. Then it took me a year to work up the courage to attend an Arrive and Drive, but I’ve been hooked on the club ever since. My wife Diane and I have done two beach getaways and are eagerly looking forward to our third Northwest Passage this June. We were the Tourmeisters for the 2019 Cabin Fever Tour to eastern Washington and hope to be leading it again this year. Although I’m a fourth generation Oregonian, I spent most of my career in southern California where I was a CPA and then the financial owner/partner of a couple of water purification related businesses. After that Diane and I came back to Portland where I enjoy working for one of the best engineering firms in the country. Although Diane has other plans for me, I could work forever. Long ago I ran trail ultramarathons but am limited now to just riding my bicycles. I am honored to be serving as ORPCA’s Treasurer. While there are many ways to serve the Club, the role of Treasurer matches well with my experience and accountant-ish proclivity to introversion.
My life has been a slow path to fast cars. Way back in junior high, I encountered the first Porsche I had ever seen. It was parked next to a friend’s house. I was immediately wowed by the lines and its sleek stance. My friend said, “It’s some German thing and the guy that owns it acts like it the most amazing thing in the world.” I secretly thought it was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Many years later, I finally got a chance at owning the most beautiful thing in the world when it was my turn to choose a new car and the only requirement was that if fit in the garage. I chose a 911. Brad was surprised, but not at all opposed. Now, some eight years later, that first Porsche, a gorgeous white, 997.2, has brought us many adventures, fantastic scenic drives, and many friends who share the love of Porsches. As many of us know, one beautiful, fast car often leads to another. That first 997.2 was swapped out for a 991 2015 Targa 4S in handsome Metallic Blue. Now we travel almost exclusively “top down!”
The role of Secretary allows my background in marketing, interior design, and insurance (all detail-heavy industries) to aid in maintaining accurate records for the Club. The bonus is that I often get to surround myself with beautiful cars at our many events. On that note, I hope to see you out there soon, enjoying the lines, the sounds, and the beauty of all things Porsche.
My Porsche Journey started when I was in the third grade in my hometown of San Diego, California. Our class assignment was to write a short story of what we would like to do when we grew up. Well, I’ve loved cars all my life and at the young age of 8, I had a very comprehensive collection of Hot Wheels cars. For the report, I chose “Race Car Driver.” But not just any car, even then, I singled out Porsche as my weapon of choice. I even convinced my mother to take me to Alan Johnson Porsche to visit their Race Department and do a little “Research.” The staff at the dealership was very nice to me and the race techs talked about the cars and answered my questions. I was hooked on Porsche for life. In the late 80s I went to work as the Parts & Service Manager for a small independent shop called Dieters Porsche Service on 16th and Market in downtown San Diego.
It wasn’t until 2014 that I was able to pull the trigger and purchase my first Porsche, an Arctic Silver 2002 996TT. I immediately signed up with PCA national and joined the Oregon Region. It’s been really fun to get to know so many members and try out a lot of the club activities such as the drives, autocross and the monthly socials. I’m very excited and honored to be chosen as the club’s Sales & Marketing Director and am looking forward to sharing some fresh ideas and continuing to be involved wherever I can. You can reach me by clicking the male icon above.
