Board of Directors Bios

Laurel Moad

President

Laurel is an advocate for conservation efforts and improving access to the Fox River. Having lived in St. Charles for 16-years, she can frequently be found on one of the multi-use paths throughout the area. Her professional career is highlighted with leadership and consulting roles for national companies, with her focus on talent development and change leadership. In addition to her service on the River Corridor Foundation, she is active with the St. Charles Chamber of Commerce and supports other non-profit groups in the Fox Valley.

Dan Lasse

Vice President

Dan has worked in St Charles the last 35 years. He is President of Management Recruiters of St Charles with an office on 1stStreet with a view of the river! Dan has been on numerous boards including the River Corridor Foundation and the St Charles Downtown Partnership and is currently active with Shepherds Heart Food Pantry. He enjoys canoing and fishing the Fox River in St Charles.

Richard Anderson

Secretary

Richard Anderson grew up in St. Charles on the east bank of the Fox River in a home that today stands next to the Pottawatomie Community Center. His father, Chet, began giving riverboat tours in 1945.

During the summer, Anderson steers one of his company’s two boats, the Fox River Queen and the St. Charles Belle, up and down the river from Pottawatomie Park on daily sightseeing cruises. Rich sold the riverboat operation to the St. Charles Park District in early 2019 and now serves as a consultant to the district. Rich has extensive knowledge and experience on many aspects of the Fox River as he has cruised it on a daily basis for many years – weather permitting.

Jim Nebel

Director

Jim is a retired executive from Northrop Grumman Corporation where he worked in the Defense Industry for 35 years. Jim and his family have lived in St. Charles since 1987. They loved the city and its signature attraction, the Fox River, and have spent many enjoyable outings up and down the Fox River in their canoe. He has served on the Advisory Board of the Tri Cities Salvation Army for many years. He is a Viet Nam Veteran and a life member of St. Charles VFW post 5036. He is a long-time member of the Tri-Cities Exchange Club. His hobby is painting, oil on canvas.

Holly Cabel

Director

Holly currently serves as Director of Parks and Recreation for the St. Charles Park District. A graduate of the University of Iowa, Holly and her husband John reside in St. Charles with their three sons. Holly is a member of the St. Charles Rotary Club, a St. Charles Arts Council board member, a member of the Active River Project Task Force and the America In Bloom steering committee.

Phil Held

Treasurer

Phil Held joined the River Corridor Foundation Board in November 2016 and was elected Treasurer effective May 2017. He has lived in St. Charles since 1994 and has three sons and three grandchildren. Phil is CFO of Oakbrook Properties, Inc., a local real estate development company. Additionally, Phil has served as the St. Charles City Treasurer for two terms, was the mayoral appointee to the St. Charles Police and Fire Pension Funds and has also served as Treasurer of the Literacy Volunteers Fox Valley, Citizens for Excellence in Education CUSD 303 and was a member of the Finance Advisors Committee to CUSD 303.

Phil’s hobbies include running, basketball, playing with his grandchildren, reading and playing chess. He has completed six marathons and now has his sights on a half-ironman triathlon next year. Phil’s love of the outdoors and the Fox River Trail prompted him to become involved with the River Corridor Foundation of St. Charles. He’s now looking forward to kayaking down the Fox River.

John Rabchuk

Director

John is a retired business owner who has been an active participant in a number of local civic organizations for most of the +40 years that he and his wife Cheryl have lived in St. Charles. Probably best known for playing a vocal role in promoting the Active River project, John was a past candidate for St. Charles mayor and served on a number of City commissions and task forces.

Rick Brems

Director

Member of the RCF since 2010. Active in all of our events, heading up numerous planning committees. Leads the effort for the Heart of the Fox Color Run, and the "River runs through it" lectures series. Directed and coached youth soccer, basketball, baseball teams. Provided most of the still pics and videos for the RCF website and literature. An original member of the "Active River Project."

Peggy McCarthy

Director

Peggy, her husband, Adam and their 3 children have lived in St Charles for 25 years. She loves St Charles and has found it to be a great place to raise a family. Her family has enjoyed the river as a boat owner and takes advantage of the recreational opportunities that the Fox River offers. For 20 years, Peggy has worked in the Fox Valley, is on the St Charles Park District Board and STC L.E.A.R.N. Board. She takes great pride in volunteering in her community, because she wants to help continue the great work that has been done and is being done in beautifying the river and the town around it.

Steve Catlin

Director

Steve is a retired dean from William Rainey Harper College in Palatine. Over the course of three decades, he served on several planning committees for St. Charles School District 303. Since 2009, Steve also has served as a trustee for the St. Charles Township Cemetery District. He enjoys golf, fishing and walking with friends at Delnor Health and Fitness. Steve and wife Kay have lived in St. Charles for 49 years. Their two daughters and three granddaughters live in the metro area.

Lark Cowart

Director

Lark joined the River Corridor Foundation Board of Directors in 2021. She and her family are avid kayakers and cyclists and can often be found in or around the Fox River. Lark is a Kane County assistant state's attorney, high school girls' swim coach for Saint Charles North, and adjunct professor at Aurora University. Lark also serves as a den leader for Cub Scout Pack 260 and is on the board for the League of Women Voters.

Jon Hull

Director

Jon and his wife Karen have resided in St Charles since 1973. He was a local Real Estate Broker for 43 years. Initially as the Project Manager for The Windings of Ferson Creek, then owned his own Brokerage firm, Hullmark Realty and later with ReMax Professionals. His experience included farm/land sales, residential and commercial properties. He is a member of the Tri Cities Exchange Club and Active River Task Force.

Nate Wendt

Director

Nate has worked in St. Charles for the past four years, but has lived in the area for 20+ years. He is the Tourism and Sales Coordinator for the St. Charles Business Alliance. He enjoys all the things the Tri-Cities have to offer and exploring them with his dog, Augie.

Frank Esposito

Director

Frank has lived in St. Charles for 14 years. He worked for Sears, Roebuck and Co. for 21 years at the corporate level in various management positions and spent 20 years as an entrepreneur owning and managing two printing companies. He served for many years on his home owner's association in every Board position including President. Frank served as a Co-Chairman of the Environmental Efforts sub-committee for the "America in Bloom" project in conjunction with the city of St. Charles for five years. He has expressed the desire to help improve the Fox river so as to enhance the city of St. Charles.

Carolyn Gange

Director

Carolyn Gange has resided in Geneva for 13 years and is a residential landscape designer and owner of Turning Leaf Landscapes. Carolyn serves on the Geneva Park District Foundation board and is an active member of the Geneva Natural Resources Committee. With a background in global marketing for a Fortune 500 restaurant chain and a passion for the outdoors, she is an advocate for creating designs and experiences that emotionally connect people to, and encourage preservation of, the natural environment. Along with her husband Tony, she enjoys the many preserves, trails and events the Fox Valley has to offer.

James Enck

Director

Jim has lived in the Pottawatomie Park neighborhood for 56 years. He is a retired Landplanner/Landscape Architect with 50 plus years experience working on multiscale projects such as public school sites, college campuses, libraries, parks, resorts and housing developments. He enjoys helping coordinate and steer the River Corridor Foundations construction and enhancement projects. As a kayaker, he is looking forward to the development of the "Active River Project".

Rita Payleitner

Director

Rita Payleitner began her love of the Fox River in High School as a regular boater & water skier and continued as a first-time homeowner with a beautiful river view. A one-time ecological chemist her love for the river was as much environmental as it was recreational.

In her 12 years on St. Charles City Council, she often went to bat for the Active River Project. In addition, she served in a Council advisory role for RCF projects. Honored now to serve on the Board, Rita looks forward to continuing her advocacy for the Fox River and the mission of the River Corridor Foundation.

A long-time resident of St. Charles, Rita and her husband Jay, proudly raised 5 children here and look forward to their grandchildren loving and living here in the river centric town they call home.