Board of Directors

Cari Higgins is a 23-time national champion whose 10-year racing career included eight years on professional teams. Competing in both sprint and endurance events, she earned multiple Pan American Championship and World Cup medals, represented the United States at four UCI Track World Championships, and twice competed in the team time trial at the UCI Road World Championships.

Since retiring from professional competition, Cari has built a business as a real estate agent, business manager, and investor, led junior cycling development programs, and remained active in the Boulder cycling community. She also serves nonprofit organizations including Brake the Cycle, which she founded in 2011, and Boulder Valley Care Network.

As Chair, Cari combines firsthand athlete experience with business, community and nonprofit leadership. Her perspective helps keep athlete voice and opportunity central to USA Cycling's work, from grassroots participation through international competition.

Greg Allen is CEO and Chief Research Officer of Callan LLC, an employee-owned institutional investment consulting firm that helps many of the nation's largest pension plans, foundations, endowments and other large investment programs make sound long-term decisions. During nearly four decades at Callan, he has worked closely with boards on governance, fiduciary stewardship of large public pools of assets, business management, risk management and organizational sustainability.

Greg got his first BMX bike in 1971 and has held a USA Cycling license since 1988. He remains an active rider and masters racer and has competed at Masters Nationals in road, criterium, time trial, cyclocross, cross-country and marathon mountain bike. Over the years, he supported high school mountain biking as a ride-leader and race volunteer, as well as providing financial and volunteer support to numerous cycling-related organizations including NICA, NorCal Cycling, MCBC, and Trips for Kids.

Greg brings both perspectives to the Board: the experience of leading a complex organization, and the practical understanding of someone who has spent decades riding and racing. His Board work focuses on sound governance, sustainable financial management, stronger athlete support, and more opportunities for people to ride and race. He holds an MS in applied economics and a BA, cum laude, in economics from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Spencer Guinn is a board-certified orthopedic surgeon specializing in sports medicine. For more than 20 years, he has cared for collegiate and high school athletes and has served as a medical director and team physician for Arkansas State University athletics.

Spencer is also a U.S. Army Reserve veteran who served with forward surgical and combat support teams during multiple deployments to Iraq. He has taught tactical medicine and combat surgery in the United States and South America and serves as medical director and a tactical medic for the Arkansas State Police SWAT team. He is president and co-founder of the Stop the Bleeding Foundation, which provides medical training and equipment to first responders and community organizations.

Spencer began road racing in the late 1990s and continues to ride and follow the WorldTour. He brings the Board direct experience in athlete health, emergency response, organizational risk and service under pressure, along with a longtime participant's connection to cycling.

Michael Cole has been a cyclist for nearly 40 years. He raced at the regional amateur level for about a decade and is a licensed Level 2 USA Cycling coach. After his racing career, he became a committed supporter of the USA Cycling Development Foundation, joined the Champions Club and served on the Foundation's Board.

Professionally, Michael spent more than 25 years designing, testing and operating radio-frequency systems used in particle accelerators. He served as principal investigator and project manager on U.S. Department of Energy research projects and major superconducting radio-frequency programs before retiring as a senior technical specialist and accelerator physicist in 2016.

Michael brings to the Board a careful, analytical approach developed through complex scientific work, together with long experience as a racer, coach and Foundation supporter. His service is grounded in a sustained commitment to athlete development and to building the resources USA Cycling needs for the future.

Souheil Badran brings more than 30 years of leadership experience in global technology and financial services. Before retiring from full-time executive work in 2026, he served as senior executive vice president and chief operations officer of U.S. Bancorp. He previously held senior roles at Northwestern Mutual, Alipay, Digital River, First Data and VeriSign and now focuses on board and advisory work.

His career has centered on operations, technology, payments, customer experience and leading large organizations through change. That experience gives the Board a practical perspective on how USA Cycling can operate effectively, improve the member experience and build systems that can support future growth.

Souheil is also a committed cyclist who rides regularly for fitness and adventure. He brings to Board service both the discipline of an experienced operating executive and the perspective of a member of the broader riding community.

Chad Blankenship is a sports media, entertainment and marketing executive with experience building leagues, audiences, brands and commercial partnerships. He is president and general manager of the Ariat Texas Rattlers of PBR Teams, where he helped build a championship organization and was named the league's 2023 Executive of the Year. Earlier in his career, he held leadership roles with Professional Bull Riders, Virgin Sport, El Rey Network, ESPN and New York City's bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Chad has been a USA Cycling member since 1990. His cycling life began with freestyle BMX in the early 1980s, moved through road and criterium racing in the 1990s and 2000s, and now includes gravel endurance events.

That mix of professional and personal experience gives Chad a useful view of both the enduring culture of cycling and the need to reach new participants and fans. His Board perspective is particularly relevant to sponsorship, media, events, brand development and the commercial growth that helps support the sport.

Dereka Hendon-Barnes is a project manager for New York City's public school system, where she supports programs involving gender equity, restorative justice, social-emotional learning and LGBTQ+ inclusion. Her work requires collaboration across a large and diverse organization and a close understanding of how programs reach the commnities they are intended to serve.

A lifelong athlete, Dereka discovered cycling as an adult and became a strong advocate for the sport and its community. She is president of the Major Taylor Iron Riders Cycling Club and supports the Major Taylor Development Team. Through that work, she has built relationships among clubs and national and local organizations and helped welcome a new generation of African American cyclists into the sport.

Dereka brings the Board a grassroots club perspective, experience building inclusive communities and a clear view of the barriers that can keep people from participating. Cycling is also personal for her: she met her husband on a Major Taylor Iron Riders group ride.

Laura Reppert brings the perspective of the people who create the races and community events at the heart of American cycling. Since 2019, she has owned and directed the Bucks County Classic in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. She has also worked with events including the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships, the Tour of Somerville and the Maryland Cycling Classic.

Laura serves as president of the National Association of Professional Race Directors, where she works with organizers around the country to strengthen bicycle racing, share sound practices and improve the experience for athletes, teams, spectators and host communities. Her background also includes community event leadership and children's cycling programs.

Laura's connection to the sport began when she organized neighborhood bike events as a child in Reading, Pennsylvania. She brings the Board practical knowledge of event production, local partnerships and the conditions needed for domestic racing to thrive. Away from cycling, she farms and makes traditional baskets in Pennsylvania.

Meredith Miller began racing in 1998 after finishing her collegiate soccer career at the University of Wisconsin. She competed professionally in road and cyclocross for more than a decade, won the 2009 U.S. professional road national championship, represented the United States at the 2009 UCI Road World Championships, and raced seven consecutive UCI Cyclocross World Championships from 2010 through 2016.

Since retiring from professional racing in 2016, Meredith has remained closely involved in cycling. She rides regularly, provides race commentary, and works in sports marketing at Shimano. She also serves on the boards of Boulder Junior Cycling and the Ozark Outdoor Foundation, connecting her professional experience to youth development and broader access to outdoor recreation.

Meredith brings the Board the perspective of a longtime national-team athlete as well as experience in the cycling industry and community organizations. She understands elite competition, the transition from racing to a career, and the importance of strong development pathways for the next generation.

Connor Fields is a three-time Olympian, two-time world champion and the first American to win an Olympic gold medal in BMX racing, which he earned at the Rio 2016 Games. His career gives him firsthand knowledge of the athlete pathway from youth racing to the highest level of international competition.

At the Tokyo Games, Connor suffered life-threatening injuries in a racing crash and completed an extensive rehabilitation. That experience deepened his work around resilience and mental health and gives him an unusual perspective on athlete safety, recovery and life after elite competition. He now works as a keynote speaker, hosts PBS's Outdoor Nevada and serves as an NBC Sports BMX commentator.

Connor represents cycling on the Team USA Athletes' Commission and on USA Cycling's Athlete Advisory Council. He brings the Board the direct voice of BMX racers and Olympians, informed by exceptional competitive success as well as recovery and the transition to life after elite competition.

Cory Coffey is a pioneer of women's BMX freestyle. During a career spanning more than 20 years, she competed around the world, represented the United States at multiple UCI BMX Freestyle World Championships and became the first woman to land a backflip on a BMX bike. In 2024, she competed in the first women's BMX Park medal event at X Games before retiring from competition later that year.

Cory continues to support the sport through coaching and mentoring. She is the BMX Freestyle representative on the UCI Athletes' Commission for the 2025-2029 term and serves as the alternate cycling representative on the Team USA Athletes' Commission, giving her a direct role in athlete advocacy at the national and international levels.

Based in Detroit, Cory also runs a global boutique film company with her husband and is the mother of three daughters. She brings the Board the perspective of a BMX trailblazer, female athlete, coach, business owner and parent, with a particular understanding of emerging disciplines and the athletes building them.