Executive Board
Andy Neuman
President
Andy has lived in Western Mass for 10+ years and climbed extensively throughout our local crags as well as many other areas across the US and abroad.
Josh Seamon-Ingalls
Vice President
Josh is a Valley native who grew up in the hill town of Leverett and now lives in Northampton where he spends his days teaching middle school math, meandering around with his Golden Retrievers, and continually plotting rockwall-based journeys with his partner Laura and son Wilson. He believes that climbing should be accessible to all and that the WMCC’s recent amazing growth can and should continue and expand. He is running for the WMCC board to help make these beliefs a reality.
He considers CRG Hadley along with Farley and Rumney to be his homes away from home. He is WMCC’s Volunteer Coordinator, has been a member of the WMCC board, and looks forward to bringing his years of program management experience back to the position. While on the WMCC board he led the group that created WMCC’s Operating Executive position and was a member of the JDEI Committee. Josh has been teaching for over 20 years and has over a decade of experience managing sport nonprofits at the local, regional, national, and international levels. He has chaired boards as well as held positions ranging from secretary to treasurer, and been an active member of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging initiatives and Judicial Committees. Outside of climbing Josh enjoys leading international trips, participating in triathlons, folding origami, and having cookouts with his friends.
Josh@climbgneiss.org
Ryan Stefiuk
Secretary
One might say that Ryan’s first brush with access was the closure of his local crag at the Watchung Reservation in central New Jersey during the mid 1990’s. In the ensuing years he has spent much of his climbing time as a professional guide, route developer and first ascensionist, and access volunteer.
A resident of western Massachusetts since 2010, Ryan has worked extensively with the WMCC throughout the entirety of the Hanging Mountain acquisition and development process. He collaborated with the MassWildlife’s office of Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Protection (NHESP) to draft a management plan for Hanging Mountain. Along with Dolci Mascolo and Chris Beauchamp he helped release both a free PDF guide and GunksApp guidebook to Hanging Mountain. Currently, he serves on the joint Ragged Mountain Foundation/WMCC Hanging Mountain Stewardship Committee. He spends much of his spare time developing new routes and building trails at Hanging and a constellation of other fine small crags in the Berkshire region.
With 30 years of diverse climbing experience under his belt Ryan has a long view of climbing. He believes the golden age of climbing access lies ahead, and that Local Climbing Organizations (LCO’s) like WMCC are key to this future. LCO’s must work to maintain/strengthen existing climber access and negotiate and secure access to future crags in our region (of which there are many). If elected to the WMCC Board of Directors, in addition to continuing his current volunteer efforts, he hopes to further the WMCC’s work constructing an “access-model” framework. This process should help to streamline, standardize and inform future WMCC access negotiations and partnerships with parties such as private landowners, Massachusetts DCR, US Army Corps of Engineers, and the myriad of land trusts that exist in our region.
ryan.stefiuk@climbgneiss.org
Danielle Rao
Treasurer
Danielle has been a member of the WMCC for 17 years and is the current board treasurer. She first started volunteering for the WMCC at annual events like the Winter Thaw and Rendezvous. When it came time to purchase the Farley parking lot, Danielle started the WMCC’s most popular fundraiser, the Silent Auction, now in its 16th year. This event alone has raised over $120,000 for the WMCC!
Danielle is a property manager and a small business owner. She and her husband Jon LaValley (founding member of the WMCC) love to climb locally and road trip around the country climbing and biking. When she’s not climbing, she’s usually reading in a sunny spot, gardening, or doing yoga.
Danielle@climbgneiss.org
Laura Davis
Laura Davis (“Buzz”) has been climbing since 2000 when a friend convinced her that it wasn’t a risk to try a new sport that would involve lots of time and expensive gear. She is a native of Massachusetts, and has lived in the Pioneer Valley since 2003. She became connected to the WMCC through her husband, Carsten Braun, who has many WMCC connections from the early days, and by donating handmade BuzzWare bags to the annual spring fundraising auction. Laura/Buzz is an educator, school administrator, and artist. When she isn’t climbing, you can find her adventuring outdoors, traveling, or upcycling thrifted fabrics into works of art. She is committed to efforts to make climbing inclusive and welcoming for all ages and abilities.
Laura@climbgneiss.org
Jenifer Dickinson
Jenifer recently moved to Massachusetts and is very excited to be a part of the WMCC. She has been ice climbing since 2013 and rock climbing since 2017. She became an AMC member in 2014 which lead to her becoming a mountaineering volunteer leader in 2018 and she has been co-leading ice climbing events in NH ever since. In 2021 she became the Chair of the Mountaineering Committee of the NH Chapter, a position she still currently holds. She as a background in Outdoor education, Environmental education and Conservation biology and currently works as the stewardship Coordinator for the Berkshire Natural Resource Council. She hopes to use all these skills and work to help in building a stronger, more supportive climbing community.
Jenifer@climbgneiss.org
Nick Friedman
Nick Friedman is a Western Massachusetts native who grew up climbing Reservoir Rocks in Great Barrington. Twenty years later, Nick’s love of climbing has brought him all over the world. Nick’s outdoor enthusiasm extends beyond climbing to skiing, surfing, hiking, and mountain biking.
Nick is the founder of several companies and has 15 years of executive leadership in the private sector. Currently, Nick is Chief Strategy Officer to Theory Wellness Inc, one of the largest cannabis companies in the country, which he co-founded in 2017.
Nick recently joined the board of WMCC in 2023 and has been instrumental in helping secure permanent access to the climbing at Farley ledge. Nick is passionate on issues of conservation, access, and land management for outdoor recreation.
nick@climbgneiss.org
Regina Madden
Regina Madden is a Providence-based boulderer who has been climbing since 2015, and outdoors since 2020. During the past four years, she has been a steward of the outdoor community, including educating new climbers about outdoor etiquette and ethics, participating in and promoting community events such as crag cleanups, sharing news, events, and fundraisers on her popular Instagram page @shortpeoplebeta, and hosting her own annual fundraising event (this past year benefitting the WMCC) during which she climbs 100 v points in a single day.
With a career background in marketing, specifically for philanthropy, Regina serves as an experienced resource for WMCC fundraising and the WMCC’s digital communications. She is also on the Silent Auction Committee and is managing the Board elections for 2025.
Regina@climbgneiss.org
Justin Raphaelson
Justin Raphaelson is a writer, lawyer, climber, ultrarunner, mountaineer, and conservationist. He also has a passion for taking cross country road trips to explore the great outdoors. Sensing the urgency to inform others of the beauty within our own country, and most importantly, maintaining that beauty for future generations; he started documenting his journeys, eventually publishing a memoir in 2020, Take to the Unscathed Road.
When he’s not at his day job as an attorney, Justin can be found at the local crag or in the mountains. He is a New England boy at heart and is obsessed with the White Mountains and Adirondacks. It has become paramount for Justin to find a way to use his writing and familiarity with the law to raise awareness not only for recreation in the outdoors but for its preservation. He documents his adventures on his blog; jccrosscountry.com. You can also follow along on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
A property and criminal defense attorney based in Worcester, Massachusetts, Justin is a graduate of New England Law-Boston and has a B.A. in History from Clark University. He is also an executive board member of the Greater Worcester Land Trust.
Justin deeply enjoys conservation projects and has worked with a number of climbing organizations over the years such as SNECC, CRAG-VT, and WMCC on access projects.
justin@climbgneiss.org
Ryan Shumeyko
Ryan has been climbing in Western Massachusetts for the better part of a decade, with a particular fondness for Farley and Mormon Hollow. While he has climbed across the country, he still feels most at home in New England, where the hills often offer peace and quiet. Ryan was drawn to the WMCC by his belief in community-centered environmental stewardship and the commitment shown by many of its members.
Over the past few years, Ryan has played an instrumental role in coordinating stewardship efforts at crags across Western and Central Massachusetts. He has been a part of the WMCC’s Trail League for three seasons, as well as numerous other formal and informal stewardship events. Ryan has made a concerted effort to build relationships with municipal conservation commissions to align the goals of climbers with the communities that host them.
Professionally, Ryan works in the Massachusetts office of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), primarily with conservation easements. He has a strong background in environmental research, monitoring, and planning from his time at Clark University, as well as graduate studies in climate change hazards and green infrastructure at UMass Amherst.
As a board member, Ryan would further his commitment to strengthening the WMCC’s capacity to protect climbing access and the ecosystems that support it.
Ryan.shumeyko@climbgneiss.org
Rob Sullivan
Rob began climbing in 1990 during his junior year at UConn, cutting his teeth on that state’s terrifying trap-rock, and later, on the magical stone of the Shawangunks. Rob moved to Southern California – just northeast of Joshua Tree – and spent four years climbing all over the American Southwest.
Rob joined the WMCC soon after moving to Western Mass in 2001. Here, he worked closely with the founding members of the WMCC to re-open Farley and bring a certain bolt-chopper to justice. Rob serves on the Joint Stewardship Committee, which manages Hanging Mountain.
Rob lives in Florence, MA with his wife Andrea, daughter Chloe and three dogs: Truman, Harper Lee, and Mollie. He teaches high school English in Enfield, CT.
rob@climbgneiss.org
Stephanie Giguere – Operating Executive
Stephanie served on the board of the WMCC from 2020- 2023. Now she is the first Operating Executive of the WMCC! As the OE, Stephanie manages grants, tracks memberships, publishes social media posts and emails, and coordinates events and trail stewardship. When she’s not protecting access to our crags, she loves sport climbing and spending time with her family.
stephanie@climbgneiss.org
Are you interested in becoming a board member?
The WMCC holds elections every fall. If you are interested in becoming a board member, make sure that you are a current WMCC member. You can nominate yourself or someone you know to run for an open seat.
Board members are responsible for attending a monthly board meeting, regularly checking and responding to emails, serving on committees, and participating in fundraising.
WMCC Justice, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee
The WMCC JDEI committee was created in an effort to address how outdoor spaces have been guarded for majority populations. While the recent killing of George Floyd spurred the creation of this committee, we recognize that many ISMs are alive and well in the outdoor community. Our goal is to address this concern and create more inclusive, equitable, and welcoming outdoor spaces for those in marginalized communities.
You can reach the JDEI committee at JDEI@climbgneiss.org
JDEI Committee members:
Chair: Eliana Wallack
Sam Copland, Dolci Mascolo, Pamela Matsuda-Dunn, Sara McFadden, Aubrey Menard, Josh Seamon-Ingalls, Jordan Revis,
Hanging Mountain Stewardship Committee
Chair: Ryan Stefiuk
Matt Conroy, Nate McKenzie, Al Rubin, Ryan Stefiuk, Rob Sullivan
Access and Stewardship Committee
Chair: Rama Davis
Russell Allen, Alec Baker, Wayne Burleson, Lydia Gruner, Dan Jazwinski, Jon LaValley, Sara McFadden, Andy Neuman, Justin Raphaelson, Josh Seamon-Ingalls, Rob Sullivan, Ward Smith
Senior Advisors:
Peter Gill, Jon LaValley, Al Rubin, Ward Smith, Jeff Squire (founding president)