Board Members | Philly Pumptrack

Heidi Grunwald, Chair

Heidi Grunwald is originally from New York and holds a bachelor’s in Mathematics, an MS in Statistics, and a Ph.D. in Research, Evaluation, and Assessment in Higher Education from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She played collegiate volleyball and earned MPV as a freshman at Georgia Tech. She is a member of the SUNY Albany Athletic Hall of Fame and she continued to play professionally in Europe. She holds 2 Bud Light National Beach Volleyball Championships and 1 Canadian National Beach Volleyball Championship.

She is also the Co-Director of the Center for Public Health Law Research (CPHLR) at Temple’s Beasley School of Law where she works with Scott Burris, JD on the emerging field of Legal Epidemiology and Policy Surveillance, the scientific study of the effects of laws on health. She serves as lead statistician on the policy surveillance data and helps oversee the strategic direction for CPHLR. Together, Burris and Grunwald spun out a technology called MonQcle into a start-up called Legal Science, LLC. The software enables human expert and machine-assisted coding of legal data. Projects powered by MonQcle can be seen at LawAtlas.org, Cityhealth.org, and pdaps.org.

Grunwald has returned to sports and youth development through her involvement in nonprofit organizations. She spent eight years serving on the Friends of the Wissahickon board as the organization focused on the Sustainable Trails Initiative aimed at making all 52 miles of trails in the park sustainable. In addition, she is a co-founder at the Philly Pumptrack, one of the country’s first public pump tracks on urban parkland, and currently serves as Board President. The Philly Pumptrack, located in West Philadelphia, is an all-volunteer organization. Lastly, she lived in the East Falls neighborhood for fifteen years and currently serves as the Board Chair for the East Falls Development Corporation Board.

Chris Chism, Treasurer

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Kenn Rymdeko, Vice Chair

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Derrick Howie

A Wynnfield resident who is also a Board Member of the Wynnfield Community Neighbors Association (WCNA). Derrick is a personal trainer and community activist.

Chris Shrader

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Lawrence Highsmith

A longtime resident of Wynnfield. Lawrence is also the Board Chair of Triangle Park, a neighboring park where the community gets together for music, food, fun and community.

Chris Berkley

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Ron Nichols

Ron Nichols has served as a Mastery Charter Pickett Campus Internship Coordinator for the past 14 years. In this role, he has made community partnerships with businesses and organizations throughout Philadelphia and placed over 1,400 students with internships. Prior to his current position, Ron’s professional titles have varied from Vice Principal, College Access Program Manager, and Professional Athlete. Since 2000, Ron has committed his professional time to serving the youth of Philadelphia in helping them navigate high school, college, and beyond.

He presently serves as one of the founding members of both The Physicians Track Program and Mastery Charter School Inspiring Minds Philadelphia. The Physicians Track Program is a unique partnership between the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia Outward Bound, and Mastery Charter School. The goal of this program is to tackle the lack of African American Doctors by providing mentoring and training to Philadelphia students.

He also serves on the following boards: Flagler College Alumni Board, Crefeld School Board of Trustees, The Business Center Board, Philadelphia Pumptrack, and The William Penn Charter School’s Center for Public Purpose Board. He earned a BA in Business Management from Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida and a Masters in Sport Management from Drexel University. In his free time, if Ron is not spending time with his family, he can be found on the basketball court or behind his camera as a freelance photographer.

Rachel Wootten

Rachel is a resident of Wynnwood and is a practicing physical therapist. Her son rides at the pumptrack.

Ashley Taylor

A Parkside resident, she has two sons. One who loves to ride the Pumptrack and another who is getting ready to ride.