Board of Directors

Bob Hall is the founder of Andesite Holdings, an investment advisory and private equity firm. Bob spent 28 years with UBS Financial Services and its predecessor firms, Paine Webber and Kidder Peabody. Bob had leadership roles in Philadelphia, Cleveland, Milwaukee, and began his career as a stock broker in Chicago. Hall's philanthropic efforts focus on Teach for America, where he served as the Regional Board Chair for the Mid-Atlantic region for 12 years and is active in philanthropy around Big Sky, Montana. Additionally, Bob Chaired the Board of the Holderness School and Co-Chairs the United States Biathlon Association. On the corporate front, Bob is Chairman of the Board of Vera Bradley and is a Director of FlyLow Gear. Bob and his wife, Joanie, split their time between Haverford, PA, New York City and Montana where Bob pursues his quest to skate ski a bit faster!

Rachel Steer was born and raised in Anchorage, Alaska and was a member of the US National Team from 1999-2006 where she won more than ten national championship titles and competed at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics. After she retired from biathlon, Rachel helped raise $11 million to build a new world-class biathlon range, snowmaking system, and soccer fields at Kincaid Park in Anchorage. She also worked to establish the Alaska Winter Olympians Fund, a scholarship program for current and aspiring Alaska winter athletes. Rachel is Chief Administrative Officer for DOWL, an engineering and consulting firm serving the Western US. She lives in Anchorage with her husband, Alex Wilson, and two children.

Brian Noyes, Chairman of the Board & Portfolio Manager at R. M. Davis, Inc. Portland, ME. Brian holds the Chartered Financial Analyst® and Chartered Investment Counselor designations.

Born in Geneva, Ohio and raised in Massachusetts, Brian now resides in Freeport, Maine with his wife, Eugenie and their two labs. He enjoys hunting, fishing, Nordic skiing

Hap Brakeley is the former Global Chief Growth Officer of Dentsu leading Dentsu’s business development efforts across all vertical markets, across all geographies and overseeing the delivery of services and solutions to new and existing customers.

A seasoned marketing executive with more than 38 years of industry experience, Hap has led business, technology, and market-driven organizational change projects for Fortune 1000 clients across a broad spectrum of industries.

Hap joined Dentsu from Accenture where he spent more than 33 years in a variety of senior-level positions. Most recently he was the Managing Director of Sales for North America. In this position he was responsible for directing the North American sales team to bring innovative business solutions to Accenture’s clients and accelerating the growth of Transformation sales throughout the firm. With his extensive outsourcing and new business start-up skills, Hap was responsible for developing Accenture’s capabilities, from setting strategic direction to delivering a full suite of services to a number of customers on a global scale. He launched several new businesses for Accenture and was a member of the Board of Directors that launched the company’s Initial Public Offering.

Hap holds a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics from Dartmouth College. He currently directs several major scholarship funds for top female engineering students and sits on several boards. He and his wife Susan live in Florida and Montana and travel often to keep up with their six children and growing number of grandchildren.

Phyllis Jalbert was first introduced to Biathlon in 2004 as a volunteer, when her hometown of Fort Kent, Maine, hosted their 1st World Cup Biathlon event. She was inspired by this most challenging sport and currently sponsors the Jalbert Youth Program for children ages 4-14 at the Fort Kent Outdoor Center as well as the new Post-Graduate Training Program for Nordic & Biathlon, a collaboration of the FKOC and UMFK.

She is a real estate professional responsible for delivering bottom-line results for more than four decades. After graduating from Colby College in 1967 with a BA in French, Ms.Jalbert moved to the New York Metropolitan area. She wrote successful Guggenheim and other grants and managed the business and financial affairs of her partner, the world class artist Dennis Oppenheim. During this time, Ms Jalbert pursued an interest in real estate restoration and development, opening her first office in 1978. She helped pioneer the renovation generation of brownstone neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan.

A mother to Chandra and grandmother to Issa, Ms. Jalbert has been a Registered Maine Guide, a light plane pilot and operates the historic Willard Jalbert Camps on the Allagash Wilderness Waterway. An avid canoeist, skier, student of yoga, amateur pianist and accordionist, she also serves as a Community Trustee for Maine Public (Broadcasting) and is also a director of the Holocaust & Human Rights Center of Maine located at the University of Maine Augusta in the Michael Klahr Center named in memory of her late husband.

Ms. Jalbert currently owns and operates Whitaker, Brooke & Harrison, Inc., a real estate management firm and lives on Fogg Point in Freeport, Maine.

Since 1973 the Vermont National Guard Adjutant General has been charged with running the “National Guard” Biathlon program for all 54 States and Territories.  The Adjutant General runs this program for the Chief of the National Guard Bureau, a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in Washington DC.  Vermont Adjutant Generals have served on the Biathlon Board of Directors since 1980. Maj. Gen. Gregory Knight is currently serving as the Adjutant General, Vermont National Guard. Knight has 40 years of uniformed service - 27 years of commissioned service and 13 years of prior enlisted service. Knight started his enlisted career with the U.S. Coast Guard in October 1983, serving six years and separating from the service as a Yeoman Second Class (E5) in October 1989. Following his service with the USCG, Knight pursued a career in Vermont Law Enforcement, serving four years as a Burlington Police Officer and seven years as the Chief Liquor Investigator with the Department of Liquor Control. Concurrent with his law enforcement career, Knight continued his military career as a traditional Guard member, serving seven years with the Vermont Air National Guard as a Security Forces Specialist. He earned his commission through Officer Candidate School in 1997, joining the Vermont Army National Guard and serving three years as a traditional National Guard officer. Knight was selected for Active Guard and Reserve duty (AGR) in June of 2000 and served in this status until his election as Vermont Adjutant General. In June 2023, MG Knight was selected by his peers to become the Vice President-Army of the Adjutant General Association of the United States.

He is married to Tracy, his wife of 29 years. They have four children – Jason (31), Griffin (29), daughter Colby(26) and Cooper (21). MG Knight is a long-time resident of Huntington, VT.

Dexter Paine was appointed to the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee board of directors and began serving as a National Governing Bodies Council representative in January 2021.

Paine is a lifelong athlete, an accomplished businessman and a global sport leader. A business executive with over three decades of private equity experience, Paine is chairman of Paine Schwartz Partners, a leading global private equity firm focused on investing in sustainable food & agribusiness. He co-founded the firm in 1997 and has been at the forefront of his industry, investing in the global food and agricultural industry and serving as a respected speaker on the business sector. During his career, Paine has chaired many private and public companies and is involved in numerous not-for-profit organizations and is the chairman emeritus of Holderness School.

A lifelong sports enthusiast and NCAA ski racer while on the Williams College ski team, he served as chairman of the Olympic governing body U.S. Ski & Snowboard for 13 years. During his tenure, the organization saw its greatest success in history, earning 56 Olympic medals, establishing a strong business model and providing athletes with a platform for Olympic success. For four years prior to his term as chairman of the Olympic governing body he also served as president of the organization’s foundation. Paine also serves on the board of US Biathlon and chairs its governance committee. He also serves on the USOPC Finance Committee and as the chairman of the USOPC NGBC Governance Task Force.

He extended his sport leadership to a global platform, serving since 2014 as an elected member of the International Ski Federation Council. In his role with FIS, he serves on the finance committee and also led the first-ever strategic planning effort for FIS and serves as a member of the working groups for gender equality and governance reform.

Paine has also served as member of the executive committee for both the 2015 FIS World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail/Beaver Creek and the 2019 World Freeski, Freestyle and Snowboard Championships in Utah. He was the 2020 recipient of the Julius Blegen Award, the highest honor bestowed for service by U.S. Ski & Snowboard.

Katherine Kendrick currently serves as a Trustee of the United States Olympic and Paralympic Foundation (she served on the Board of Directors of the USOPF for 12 years before transitioning to a Trustee), on the Women’s Leadership Board of Harvard Kennedy School, on the Advisory Board of the Los Angeles Sport and Entertainment Commission, on the Leadership Council of Waterkeepers Alliance and on the Board of Advisors of Columbia Law School Kernochan Center for Law, Media and the Arts. She is also a Founding Member of Women Against Alzheimer's, a Society of Fellows Member of the Aspen Institute and a National Council Member of the Aspen Ski and Snowboard Club.

Kendrick is the retired General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of DreamWorks Animation. She joined DreamWorks SKG as General Counsel at its formation and moved to DreamWorks Animation following its spin off from DreamWorks SKG in an IPO. Prior to DreamWorks, Kendrick was Vice President Legal Affairs (Europe, Middle East and Africa) for the Walt Disney Company based in Paris, France and a production attorney at Walt Disney Studios based in Burbank, CA.  She started her legal career as a corporate law associate at Latham & Watkins based in Los Angeles, CA.

Kendrick previously served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Professional Surfers (now the World Surf League), Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Greater Los Angeles, Los Angeles Minority Business Opportunity Council and LA’s Better Educated Students for Tomorrow. In addition, she was on the Advisory Council for California State to School and the National Council of U.S. Ski and Snowboard Foundation. 

Kendrick received her JD as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar from Columbia University School of Law and her BA with highest distinction in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley.

Jerry Baltzell has been involved with biathlon since 1985 and a member of USBA since 1988. He became an IBU licensed International Referee since 1994. He coached the Washington National Guard Biathlon Team from 1985-2000. He served as an official in biathlon at Soldier Hollow during the Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah and assisted the U.S. Biathlon Team during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, BC in the area of family/biathlete support. He has served on the USBA Board of Directors for more than 15 years, representing U.S. coaches and officials on the Board.

Sarah Konrad first joined the USBA board as an athlete representative in 2008 and has remained as an at-large member ever since. She was the first American woman to compete in two sports during one Olympiad: biathlon and nordic skiing at the Torino Winter Olympic Games in 2006. She has a PhD in geology and works at the University of Wyoming, where she stays active skiing, mountain biking, trail running, and making linocut relief prints.

Jake Brown serves as one of three Athlete Representatives on USBA's Board of Directors and the alternate Athlete Representative for the Athlete Advisory Committee to the USOPC. Jake began racing biathlon in the 2016-2017 season after graduating from St. Olaf College and a year of graduate study at Northern Michigan University. Jake ran cross-country and track at St. Olaf and competed in Nordic skiing at both schools, finishing his collegiate ski career as an NCAA All-American in 2016. Jake lives in Craftsbury Common, Vermont where he trains with the Craftsbury Outdoor Center's Green Racing Project biathlon team. In the winter, Jake represents the United States while competing on the IBU's Biathlon World Cup circuit.

During his career as a member of the United States Biathlon National Team, Max Durtschi represented the United States at World Cup, World Championships, and IBU Cup competitions. Additionally, he maintained a residency at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, New York. Prior to his biathlon career, Max was a professional cyclist competing for Slipstream Sports, Leopard - Trek, and the United States National Team. Max has a bachelor's degree in neuroscience from Dartmouth College and served as a research assistant at Dartmouth's Thayer School of Engineering and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. He is currently pursuing his M.D. at Stanford University.

Kelly Kjorlien serves as an Athlete Representatives on USBA's Board of Directors, and as the primary Athlete Representative for the Athlete Advisory Committee to the USOPC. Kelly grew up in northern Minnesota, competing in nordic skiing and biathlon as a junior. She attended Montana State University in Bozeman, where she continued to race and enjoyed coaching the local biathlon club. Kelly now works in Tech in Bozeman, enjoying as much time in the mountains as possible.

Kelsey Dickensen currently lives in Craftsbury, Vermont where she competes for both the Craftsbury Green Racing Project Biathlon Team and U.S. Biathlon. Originally from Winthrop, WA, Kelsey learned to cross country ski and do biathlon with the Methow Valley Nordic Team. Kelsey attended college in Duluth, MN at The College of St. Scholastica, where she double majored in Philosophy and Natural Science and was awarded the CSS Department Chair Award in Philosophy. She was captain of the CSS Ski Team and won the CSS Athletics Career Achievement Award as a senior in 2018. She is a three-time NCAA Qualifier and the only female CSS skier to earn CCSA All-Region on five occasions. Kelsey also works as the Executive Director of the Women Ski Coaches Association, a non profit her former college coach Maria Stuber started in 2019. WSCA’s mission is to assist in the recruitment, retention, development, and advancement of women ski coaches in North America. She serves as a Gender Equity Athlete Ambassador for the International Biathlon Union, which has published aggressive gender equity goals over the coming years. Kelsey is passionate about gender equity and sport and hopes that she can help women achieve high goals in spaces that have been historically male-dominated. Kelsey has also been involved in a number of USOPC committees and working groups. She currently serves as an athlete ambassador on the USOPC Women's Health Task Force and TUSA NFT Athlete Advisory Group. She also served as an athlete ambassador on the USOPC DEI Core Team ahead of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

Sara is a two-time Olympic biathlete and three-time World Championship team member for U.S. Biathlon, competing on the National Team between 2007-2014. Previous to her work with U.S. Biathlon, Sara was the Assistant Nordic Coach for the University of Alaska Anchorage, and the Nordic Program Manager and Head Coach for Team Soldier Hollow in Midway, Utah. She also served as USBA Athlete Representative on the Board of Directors and the USOPC Athlete Advisory Council from 2016-2019. Sara earned her Technical Delegate certification from the International Biathlon Union (IBU) in May 2022, and was elected to the IBU Technical Committee in September 2022. Sara enjoys her work giving back to the biathlon community, and is especially passionate about youth development, officials education, events, and growing the sport. Sara graduated from Dartmouth College with a BA in International Relations, and earned her MBA from Keller University Graduate School. She has also completed the Team USA Leadership Certificate Program, and the IBU Women's Mentorship Program. Sara enjoys traveling and the outdoors - especially hiking, cross-country skiing, and backpacking. Sara is originally from Boise, Idaho and now lives in Latham, NY with her husband and two children.