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
Ever since I was a little boy, my dream in life has been to be a board member of a prestigious running club – and now you have the power to make my dream come true. I tell people that decades ago I began
as a fitness runner to keep the weight off, and that I just naturally progressed to marathoning. But no sane person would have run 25+ marathons and ultras, and untold shorter distances just due to the love of running. No, my plan all along has been to meet as many fellow runners as possible to try and secure a board seat. Over the decades, I’ve been a member of and helped manage several different running groups. But sadly, none of these other groups had a management structure that included a board; so, my quest has gone unfulfilled. If elected, I promise not to abuse the many perks that come with being a board member. I will endeavor to be of service to the club’s members, and work to help them attain their dreams – because sometimes, dreams do come true.

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
Karen started running in 1999 for exercise, and eventually caught the marathon bug, finishing her first Houston Marathon in 2001. Since then, she has completed over 20 marathons, half marathons, 50K trail races, 10Ks, 5Ks, and has participated in the Texas Independence Relay. A charter member of KARC, Karen treasures the friendships she has made through the group and looks forward to many more KARC running adventures.
When she is not running, she enjoys spending time with her husband, family and friends; reading, and watching movies.

Michael Roberts

Director
I’ve been a runner all my life and can remember running across the neighborhood in my youth before I had my first bicycle. It wasn’t until my early 20’s that I began running more than a mile at a time. I decided to run my first marathon in 1983 just one day before the race. I didn’t pay
attention to the weather forecast and ended up running through a typhoon during the second half of the race. I immediately fell in love with running the marathon distance but did not understand anything about marathon training; I simply ran because I enjoyed it. I fell out of running during the 90’s and 00’s due to family, home, and career but decided to run The Woodlands Marathon in 2016 after a 28-year absence from racing. It wasn’t until joining KARC in 2017 that I learned what a “long run” is. Being a
member of KARC has made a significant difference in my running, training, racing, and life in general. Where else could I (or anyone else) go for so much inspiration, motivation, encouragement, knowledge, accountability, comradery, and fun? These same benefits are available to every member and have helped me complete many races ranging from 5Ks to marathons to
ultramarathons to Ironman triathlons. I’ve experienced many high points as well as low points over the years. I’ve learned a lot of lessons the hard way. Now it’s my turn to give back to the local running community and I’d like to do that by serving on the KARC Board of Directors. I have been a Katy resident since 2002. I have been married to my beautiful bride, Jean, since 1988 and together we have one daughter who just gave birth to our first grandchild in 2023. I retired from an accounting/finance career in the energy industry and have served as Treasurer for a local youth soccer club and a local church.