Current Rowing Cares Board Members
Beth Kohl - Executive Director and Board President
Beth Kohl, a cancer survivor and rower, brings over 35 years of global experience to Rowing Cares and is the Founder of the Survivor Rowing Network. Based in New York and London, she ran multinational organizations with a focus on strategic development, client management, marketing, communications, media and branding. She worked for United States Rowing, the Omnicom Group,General Motors, AT&T, and partnered with Susan G. Komen and the American Cancer Society. Her strong leadership skills and vision for seeing opportunities and possibilities in any situation has allowed her to excel in building strong teams from the ground up.
Shari Lowen - Vice President
Shari was first exposed to the survivor community when she participated in Row For The Cure in Portland, Oregon in 2017. Though she did not have a connection to the cancer community at that time, Shari was impressed by the positive energy and supportive nature of the regatta. In 2021 she herself was diagnosed with lung cancer. During treatment, Shari repeatedly inquired of her health care providers as to what level of fitness was a reasonable long-term expectation. No one would answer that question. So, she set a goal of doing Row For The Cure in Seattle in 2022. As she crossed the finish line, Shari knew that she wanted to become active in the survivor rowing community. To that end, Shari established ROWsist - a program for survivors of all types of cancer - at River City Rowing Club in Sacramento, CA.
Shari spent her career in the health and social services arena within California State Government. Her focus was program development, project planning and public policy. Shari previously served on the Board of Directors of River City Rowing Club and Delta Sculling Center. She has been involved in a number of volunteer activities in the Sacramento area involving animal welfare..
Barbara Sanchez-Salazar - Secretary
Barbara is a senior attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney, P.C., and practices in the firm’s employee benefits, deferred compensation and tax sections. Barbara’s community involvement includes co-chairing the first Row for the Cure event in Jacksonville in 2004 and continuing to organize the event for seven years, serving on the Mayor’s Council for Fitness and Well-Being for over ten years and the Board of Jacksonville Rowing Club for almost 17, she also co-founded and was the Director of JRC’s youth rowing program from its inception in 2002 till 2015.
Barbara is honored to have been a member of the 1978 Junior National Team and a collegiate rower but currently takes great pride in being a master’s athlete and enjoying the sport with her 95 year-old father and three children who either coach youth crew or are pursuing USRowing Referee licenses.
Marilyn Denzel - Treasurer
Marilyn Densel brings more than 35 years of senior leadership experience within international financial institutions. She recently retired from ING Capital where she was a Managing Director and Co-Head of the bank's Acquisition Finance business. Marilyn has experience advising companies at various stages of growth with highly impactful approaches to financing and corporate sustainability, including governance structure.
Marilyn earned her MBA in finance from NYU Stern School of Business and a graduate certificate in Sustainability Analytics from Columbia University. She is an avid sailor and cyclist and resides with her husband in Wilton, CT, where she serves on the Retirement Pension & Investment Committee for the Town of Wilton.
Lori Boersma
Seven years ago, after surviving my second cancer diagnosis and a series of unimaginable health challenges -including pneumonia, sepsis and a two month coma, all during chemotherapy, I discovered rowing through the Saugatuck Survive-Oars and Norwalk Hospital. Rowing became a lifeline for me, providing not just physical strength but an incredible sense of community and purpose.
Through the Survivor Rowing Network, I've been given extraordinary opportunities. I've competed twice in the prestigious Head of the Charles, the largest three-day rowing regatta in the world. The Survivor Rowing Network's presence at this event has grown exponentially, starting with two boats in our first year and expanding to eleven boats in a newly established Survivor category this past year. It was an unforgettable experience that showcased the resilience and camaraderie of our community!
Rowing has transformed my life in ways I never imagined, and I'm deeply passionate about sharing this experience with others. I'm committed to helping more programs hear about the Survivor Rowing Network and supporting them in starting initiatives that empower cancer survivors through the sport of rowing.
Together, we're proving that we can do hard things, and thrive!
Lindsay Brown
Lindsey is a graduate of The Ohio State University and was a member of the Varsity Women's Rowing Team. While on the team they took home two Big Ten Championships and two National Championships.
Since graduating, Lindsey moved down to Northwest Arkansas and began working at J.B. Hunt. She is currently a Pricing Analyst II for their Final Mile Division.
Angie Gabel
Angie began rowing in 1998 in Austin, TX and the Austin Rowing Club after relocating to the area with her son, Jack. She started as a coxswain who wanted to row and became a competitive masters rower, competing nationally and internationally. Diagnosed in 2013 as part of a routine health screen, she had a bi-lateral mastectomy and credits her rowing family for helping her through her recovery and eventual return to the water.
Now living in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, Dave, and their always growing pack of pups, Angie is thrilled to be a part of Rowing Cares and looks forward to working with individuals and rowing groups to bring support resources to those recovering from a cancer diagnosis.
Victoria Madden
Victoria was first introduced to rowing through her children, but never considered it would be a sport she would pick up later in life. After her cancer diagnosis in 2016, she joined the Saugatuck Survive-OARS cancer survivor program where she rowed from 2018 to 2022. Through her involvement with the Survive-OARS, she realized the physical and emotional benefits rowing provided her as well as an incredible support community. In order to further support the survivor rowing program at Saugatuck, she completed coaching training in 2024. While remaining involved with the Survive-OARS, she currently rows more competitively with the Saugatuck Rowing Club Masters in Westport CT.
Victoria is excited to continue to create and build opportunities for survivors through the Survivor Rowing Network.
Kathleen Mulcahy
Kathleen brings a strong background in non-profit management, world-class marketing, fundraising and sponsor relations. Her experience and passion for connecting the cancer and rowing communities brings valuable expertise to the Rowing Cares Board. Her roles as Executive Director include Fighting Chance - a free counseling, navigation and support services provider for cancer patients and their families and the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center. She has been a Senior Executive at global consumer and marketing organizations, including Pepsi and the Omnicom Group. Her role as Mayor of Sag Harbor NY during COVID demonstrated her strong leadership, strategic vision, and capability to get things done during challenging times. Finding rowing as a masters rower, she started a Survivor Rowing group at her home club - Sag Harbor Community Rowing.
Katie Rodgers
Katie began rowing while studying at Wake Forest University in her home state of North Carolina, and quickly developed a love for the sport and its traditions.
Katie has had a passion for supporting breast cancer research since losing her mother to breast cancer when she was fourteen. She was recruited to Rowing Cares by founder Kathy Frederick, and has been honored to serve the mission, board, and volunteers since 2015. In her professional life, Katie works for the International Rescue Committee, which provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. Previously she served as a Legislative Assistant in the North Carolina General Assembly and ran multiple political campaigns. Currently she lives in New York City and is a teammate and council member of the Passaic River Rowing Association in Lyndhurst, New Jersey. Besides rowing, she can be found checking off her New York must-do checklist and volunteering for local substance abuse recovery and LGBTQ+ organizations.
Kathy Frederick - Founder and Board Member Emeritus
As a sales and customer service representative for Packaging Specialties in Portland, Oregon, Kathy worked for the company for thirty-seven years and calls it her second family. Her fifteen-year background as a political activist in the 70’s and 80’s honed her organizing and leadership skills. At the age of 42 she took up rowing and says it is like dancing on water. In 1993, she organized the first Row for the Cure for Rowing Cares and still rows regularly with her third family at Station L Rowing.
Kathy served as Row for the Cure President through 2018.
Rowing Cares Operations
Russ Kohl - Program Director
Russ was brought into the the sport of rowing through family - his wife and both children were all collegiate rowers. He finally took the plunge and learned to row at Maritime Rowing Club in Norwalk, CT, competing in 3 regattas, loving every minute of it.
Now, Russ supports many of the organizations operational needs such as IT functions, digital communications and fundraiser coordination, loving (almost) every minute of it. His strong passion for bringing the cancer and rowing communities together fuels his work, and he looks forward to continually expanding the universe of those who benefit from Rowing Cares and it programs.
When not engaged in Rowing Cares activities, Russ can often be found on a river somewhere, fly rod in hand, hoping a fish will rise.
Rowing Cares Brand Ambassadors
Susan Bradshaw
Susan is a seasoned public relations and marketing consultant with expertise in creating and implementing strategic national and regional public relations programs. She has worked for a variety of clients with a special emphasis on sports and entertainment and working with non-profits.
Rowing Cares is thrilled to have her on board as a member of the Marketing and Communications committee and utilize her extensive skills in developing a communications strategy, media relations, message development, athlete development and video production.
Celia Kohl
Celia works in New York for NBCUniversal as VP of Strategy and Business Development for the TV & Streaming group. She competed as a junior rower for Maritime Rowing Club (CT) and GMS Rowing, was a member of the U.S Junior National Team in Beijing in 2007 and continued her rowing career as a four-year member of Harvard’s Varsity Women’s team. Celia has worked with non-profit organizations including the American Cancer Society and Row New York since high school and is now eager to help Rowing Cares expand in new directions.
Pete Landry
Pete, based in Charlotte, NC, works for Wells Fargo as the Director for the firm’s Insurance and Annuities businesses. He and his team deliver protection-based solutions to Wells Fargo clients, as well as their families and businesses. Prior to joining Wells Fargo, Pete was in senior management for Bank of America and Merrill Lynch’s Insurance and Annuity Services business. Pete discovered rowing through Charlotte’s Row House franchise, Row House Cotswold Village in July of 2020 as he was seeking a safe and healthy way to work out during the pandemic. With several family members and friends who are breast cancer survivors, Pete is committed to doing what he has come to love in rowing and turning it into helping others with their own battles against cancer. He’s been a top fundraiser for Rowing Cares in 2020 as well as 2021.
Grace Luczak
As an Olympian, World Record Holder in the Women's 8+, and Top 10 rower in the world by World Rowing, Grace has represented Team USA in rowing for the last decade. Grace's grandmother is a survivor of breast cancer who is thriving in Michigan and wisely flocks to warmer climates in the winter. Rowers training in Princeton often live with host-families as they travel all over the country and world to train and compete during the year. Two of Grace's amazing "host-moms" in Princeton also battled breast cancer and are amazing role models and matriarchs of their families. Grace studied Human Biology at Stanford and improving science and research is at the core of her heart.
Meghan Musnicki
Pink is her signature color and this 3x Olympian and 2x Olympic gold medalist in the U.S. Women's 8+ is proud to be a Pink the Boathouse Brand Ambassador Meghan inspires wherever she goes: especially junior and collegiate athletes and, as a Rowing Cares spokesperson uses her passion about the fight against cancer to motivate others to join our cause.
Isabel Wothe
Born and raised in Jacksonville, FL, and started rowing in 2006. I competed with both the Jacksonville Rowing Club and Episcopal School of Jacksonville throughout middle school and high school. I was a 7 time Florida State Champion (in both sculling and sweep rowing) and was honored to be a two time CanAmMex sculler. For college I ventured north to Cornell University and was a 4 year member of the rowing team. Since graduating from Cornell in 2020, with a Biology and Society major and both Business and Law & Society minors, I have moved back to Jacksonville and work in healthcare management. I'm looking forward to being involved with Rowing Cares to support a great cause in a sport I love.