Board of Directors
2023 KARC Board of Directors
Club Officers
Arturo Reyes
Treasurer
Arturo Reyes (Incumbent) – Arturo has been treasurer since the second half of 2021 and a director prior to that. He started running to pursue some health benefits in 2012 with KatyFit with a group called Blue/Greens!! Their coaches were Mike Masse and Rick Bozanich. He completed his first marathon in January of 2013 with a 4:56 time and have run every Houston Marathon since then. Arturo has run Houston Marathon 9th times and expects to finish his 10th Houston Marathon in January 2023. He has ran a total of 15 Marathons including a couple of virtual marathons in the past years, his PR was Chicago in 2022 with a 3:23! Arturo has also done many half marathons, 30Ks, 25Ks, 10Ks and been part of a team running the Texas Independence Relay and the Ragnar Relay Race. Arturo is a charter member of KARC and believes it has generated an amazing running community in the Katy area. Arturo enjoys running groups, loves to have long running conversations. He loves to pace friends in their races, adding some tunes and fun to every aspect of running. Arturo is originally from Mexico and has lived in the Katy area since 2008. He is married to Ana, who is the love of his life, and has two amazing kids, Diego, 15, and Amelia, 12
Nachiketa Anand
President
Nachiketa has been a director for the second half of 2021 and as an Officer, i.e., KARC’s Secretary since January 2022. She has been involved with KARC in some volunteer capacity since joining the group in 2018.
My running journey had a rough start. After my first , ~0.1 mile run down the block, I was out of breath and thoroughly baffled as to why I could work out in the gym for 2 hours but not run down the block! I started to run a little bit at a time and was proud of herself when I ran my first 2 miles. That was in 2008. After that, I would run few miles per month for the next 5 years until I took my first leap and registered for the Blue Bell Fun Run 10k, which I completed in 68 minutes. This brought on a dream that if I could run a 10k after having run my first 6 miles the week of the of the 10k then I could definitely do a marathon! . I knew that I needed discipline, structure and support to achieve my goal. My search led to KARC, which I joined in spring of 2018. Since then, I have completed 6 half and 2 full marathon and am looking forward to running many more. With KARC, not only have I found the discipline to train but also a wonderful group of friends. I am an avid supporter of fitness / active lifestyle and encourage my friends and anyone I meet to take up what they enjoy. In addition to running, I love hiking with friends and visiting new places.
Traci Fields
Director
Traci has been a member of KARC since August of 2021. She completed her first half marathon this year and has been the administrator for the KARC Instagram account
and general social media queen for the club . She has enjoyed helping out with the social events and the back to school 5k. After working in the operating room for 15 years she decided it was time for a change and recently became a realtor. She is a wife to Tim Fields who is also in the group who plans to run his first half in January and a mom to son who is 23. When she isn’t running she is either at Disney or at the beach. She has fostered and rescued dogs in her home for the last 10 years to find their furever homes. Traci is an avid supporter of each person and their accomplishments in the group. The friends she has met at KARC definitely have become like family.
Nicole Leclair
Director
Nicole has been a member of KARC since January of 2021 but has been a part of the Katy running community since she moved to Texas in 2011. Nicole has been a runner for most of her life, but primarily for shorter distances. In high school, she thought the 2-mile time trial for the field hockey team was cruel and unusual punishment. Since moving to Texas from Maine, Nicole has completed two full marathons, more than two dozen half marathons, and various 25, 15, 10, and 5Ks. She has been a part of multiple Ragnar and TIR teams, as well as several virtual challenges like running 2015 miles in 2015. Nicole is a pharmacologist and works as a Senior Benefit Analyst with OptumRX. In her free time, she enjoys baking, hence her nickname Cupcake, reading, and snuggling her kitties, Puck & Beau. Nicole is no stranger to volunteering her time to nonprofits. She also volunteers with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. In 2021 she committed more than 300 hours of her time to her leadership role within her committee. Nicole has decided has to take this opportunity to bring her experience in serving others to help the club expand its inclusiveness and represent the interests of this varied community.
James Ingram
Vice President
James has been a member of KARC since its founding in 2016. He’s lived in Katy since 2009 and has been shuffling around the South Katy bayou trails since 2012 when he was forced to decide between eating less and getting more some exercise. Among his favorite things to do while running is complain about how hot the weather is (year-round), post too many sunrise pictures on his Strava feed, and draft off runners who are faster than him (also does this while cycling). James decided to run for a board position after realizing many of his favorite people are runners and that he may not have met them without this amazing running community. He would like to help others find their new favorite people by giving back to the community in whatever way he can. James is an Operations Manager for an oilfield services company, so organizing projects and people is something he has a lot of experience with. He is hopeful those skills can be useful in helping KARC fulfill its mission of connecting runners. James and his wife Jen have 4 wonderful children and are excited for their oldest to be graduating from high school this year. As a family they enjoy long road trips, visiting national parks, and fulfilling their dream of trying every hamburger joint in the greater Houston area.
Dennis Shaw
Director
Jacob Thymann Nielsen
Director
I started running in 1987 while serving in the Danish army, mostly forest orienteering in Denmark and Scandinavia and a select few road half marathons. After relocating to Houston in 2009 I moved to road racing after literally running into a runner group in Terry Hershey Park and caught the marathon bug. First full marathon was CHM 2014 and still working on adding more to that list. Now at 7 marathons and 39 HM’s. Running the Texas Independence Relay has also been an annual highlight together with some trail running sprinkled in here and there. I believe that running is about maintaining good health and creating good stories to share afterwards and, most importantly, having fun while doing all of it together with people that we appreciate. KARC brings out those qualities and I hope to represent that.
Jennifer Dumas
Director
Jen has been an active member of the Katy community for over 27 years. She has been a member of Tri Crew Cinco Ranch (10 years), Gotta Run (2 years), and KARC (3 years). She is an Ironman, has participated in 10 marathons and countless 13.1, 10k, and 5k events. She has volunteered for many races & charities; some include Ironman, Houston Marathon, Katy ISD, Ballard House, CAPS and Brookwood Community. She is passionate about cooking pancakes for the Katy fitness community and thrives on making people feel welcome and connected. She is an Aggie, works full time in IT, has 2 daughters (one off the payroll – yay!), 2 lunatic cats and an awesome dog.
Karen Bowman
Director
