Alan Butler

President

Alan joined the Snoman Board of Directors in 2010 as a Snoman Director for the Western Region. In April 2011, Alan was elected to the Snoman Vice President position and 4 months later at the Annual General Meeting was elected to President.

Alan and his wife and family have been snowmobiling since 1974. Alan & Linda's home for 30 years was in Stony Mountain were they rode a lot of the Interlake trails. Upon his retirement Alan & Linda moved from Stony Mountain to Foxwarren and became a member of the Snowtraxx's Snowmobile Club; Alan's first involvement with the club was taking over the trail signing responsibilities for 40 kilometers of trail. Alan was elected Vice President of the club and it was at this time he attended his first Western Region meeting. Alan was elected as Club President and club represative to the Western Region. In 2008, Alan was elected as Chairman of the Western Region and in 2010 became the Regional Snoman Director.

Alan has always been a strong community supporter and volunteer and has considerable experience on volunteer boards both at the community and Provincial level. Being employed by one of the largest Aero Space Companies in Manitoba for 35 years Alan as Manager of Aircraft Operations was responsible for a work force in excess of 250 employees and therefore has considerable experience in labour relations, budgeting and management.

Alan and his wife Linda raised a family of three, of which all snowmobiled and has one son and his family of two that are avid snowmobilers. There is nothing better than going for a ride with your grandchildren. Alan and Linda usually ride about 2500 miles per season, do not go south but stay at home and enjoy our winters.

Alan believes that the club is the strength in the Snoman organization and we must all work hard to strengthen the relationship between the clubs and the Snoman Board.

Tonya Kemball

Vice-President, Eastern Region Director

Tonya has been a member of the Maskwa Snowmobile Club since 1993 and a Director of the club since 1995. She was elected as the Eastern Region rep for her club in September 2009, became the Vice President of the Eastern Region in September 2011, and the Vice President of Snoman in 2016.  Tonya joined the Snoman Board of Directors in 2011 as a director for the Eastern Region.
 
Tonya is married with 3 children. Her and her family spends much of their time riding in the Pine Falls/Powerview area where they reside.  Tonya was the owner of the local Chicken Chef restaurant until September 2011 when she sold it and is looking forward to spending more time volunteering at the club as well as the trails.
 
Tonya looking forward to continuing to work with the individuals that invest many hours of time and work to make snowmobiling a great, fun, and safe way to spend time with family and friends. She is dedicated and excited to learn and grow with the organization and the people.

Albert Wyborn

Treasurer

Albert is a member and Past President of the Valleyview Sno-Riders Inc. snowmobile club in the Brandon area. He is currently a director and a past chairman of the Western Region Snowmobile Association. As chairman of the region, Albert was elected Western Region Snoman Director and served on the Board of Directors of Snoman. In 2007, Albert was elected as Snoman Vice-President and served in that capacity until becoming Snoman President for one term from 2008 - 2009. It was during Albert's term as President that discussion and meetings led to an integration commitment in October of 2008. Albert is currently the Treasurer on the Snoman Board of Directors; as well he also serves on several committees.

Albert and his wife Shirley have lived in the Brandon area for the past 20 years and while they enjoy snowmobiling in winter, their summers are spent camping. Albert also has served as an Assistant Director of the Manitoba/North West Ontario Provincial Good Sam Club which is an International R.V. organization. He was recently elected as their Provincial Treasurer.

Ernie Smelski

Past President

Ernie's snowmobiling days go back to the family farm near Dauphin MB, where in 1963, he would ride his dad's Polaris sled to do the farm chores. His snowmobiling interests continued on throughout his 38 years in Manitoba Conservation. Employed in 1969, he worked through the ranks of a Resource Officer and management throughout the province, working with many communities and organizations until his retirement in 2008. For the past 24 years, Ernie has been involved in the organized recreational snowmobile program, developing programs, policies and guidelines relating to snowmobile safety, risk management and infrastructure. He has contributed significantly for the betterment of Snoman and recreational snowmobiling in Manitoba as the Conservation representative sitting on the Board of Directors of Snoman since 2000-2008.

Shortly after his retirement from Manitoba Conservation, he was elected as Vice President in 2008. Ernie was instrumental in providing direction and guidance for many of Snoman's current programs. Thanks to Ernie's efforts and direction, Snoman has been very successful with the Integration program, Trail Audit program, Sign Training, Risk Management and National Trails Coalition programs, just to name a few. During his time, Snoman gained in excess of a million dollars of grants from the Federal and Provincial governments which has never before been achieved in the organizations history. Ernie has also been active on the national front with the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations as 2nd Vice President. As a result, this provided Snoman Inc. the opportunity to bring new initiatives to our programs.

Ernie was a very dedicated President, serving 3 terms from 2009-2011. He worked tirelessly, his interest and dedication to the Snoman organization was second to none and as a result through his efforts, Snoman will be able to move forward with a very good foundation. Ernie did set a Snoman President record; he is the first President to have four Executive Directors. Thanks to Ernie's efforts Manitoba has one of the safest trail systems in North America. He continues to provide guidance and recommendations to the Snoman Inc. organization in the active capacity of "Past President".

Ken Willsey

Central Region Director

I first started snowmobiling in the 70s then took a hiatus from the mid 80s until 2008. I joined Club Snow in Portage la Prairie in 2009 and have been Treasurer for the past 2 years.

I retired in 2013 after 42 years working at our Chrysler dealer. I am looking forward to spending my time working with our snowmobile club and in the last 2 years have helped construct two new warming shelters.

My wife Betty and I have three grown sons; two of them are involved in snowmobiling. I really enjoy the time we get to spend on the trails together.

I am also an avid golfer and enjoy camping in the summer and spending time with our four grandchildren.

Russ Henderson

Central Region Director

I grew up on a farm in the Pembina Valley area riding Mercs, Massey’s and Olympics and I have lived in Headingley for 18 years with my wife Leslie and three kids. I have been snowmobiling actively for about 12 years in many areas.

I have worked full time with MacDon Industries for about 28 years,with most of my years spent in Product Support, much of that travelling. Currently the OEM Integration Manager for one our larger customers. I have been with the Cross Country Snow Drifters for one year and enjoy the close knit club.I look forward to supporting the Central Region with whatever I can contribute.

Ken Horn

Eastern Region Director

Ken Horn has been an avid snowmobiler most of his life. He started snowmobiling on a snow cruiser in the early 60s at his uncle's farm in the Oak Bluff area. His first involvement with a snowmobile club was the Lac du Bonnet Power Toboggan Club, then along with a group of people from the Lac du Bonnet area formed the Lee River Snowriders Club which he held numerous positions from President to Director and still is active with the club as a Director today. He sat on the Snoman Board for several years from the late 90s, served 2 years as President and now serves as the Eastern Rep. 

After 41 years working for Greyhound Canada as an Agency Manager, he retired 3 years ago which now allows him to be more involved with snowmobiling and work with other organizations.

Les Thordarson

Interlake Region Director

No bio provided.

Wayne Vandersteen

Interlake Region Director

No bio provided.

Bill Musey

Western Region Director

No bio provided.

Darcy Wyborn

Western Region Director

Darcy has been actively involved with snowmobiling in the Brandon area since the incorporation of the Valleyview Sno-Riders in 2001. For 12 ½ years he was a member of their Board of Directors and the Snofund contact for the club. At the club level he held positions of President, and Treasurer (7 years). As their representative to the West Region Snowmobile Association, Darcy had attended every regional meeting since 2001 and became an active member at that level. Darcy has served as a member of the West Region Snowmobile Association’s Board of Directors for over 10 years, serving as their treasurer since October 2006. As a Regional Director he has enjoyed working with the West Region clubs which have continued to grow.

Darcy’s involvement with the club and region would not have been possible without the support of his wife, Tracy, and their two daughters, Jessica and Miranda. Together with the girls, Darcy has tried to turn every regional or snoman ride they could attend into a family riding adventure.

Dan Taylor

Northern Region Director

Dan’s snowmobiling started in 1964 when a neighbor took him for a ride on a Snowcruiser and he was immediately hooked on snowmobiling. After doing summer jobs - delivering papers and shoveling sidewalks, he was able to purchase his very first snowmobile in 1967. Dan was a proud owner of a Polaris Colt SS snowmobile and thus snowmobiling became a passion for him and continues to be a big part of his life today.

He is his currently president of Kelsey Trail Sno Riders and is a dedicated groomer for the club who takes pride in making the trails look like white pavement. Dan got involved as a Northern Alternate Director in 2010 and is also currently a Trail Auditor with Snoman. Dan loves to ride and doesn’t need much coaxing to climb aboard his sled and go for a cruise on the white pavement.

Kelly Martens

Northern Region Director

I started snowmobiling the winter of 1990, joined the Thompson Trailbreakers after that and started to get involved in the club. I enjoyed volunteering with the other club members and met some really good people.
 
As the years have gone on, I've gotten more involved with the Trailbreakers to the point where I've been the President of the club for the last 2 years. I've been a Snoman Director for just over 3 years representing the Northern Region, which I have really enjoyed. I've learned a lot during my time with Snoman - it's been a very good experience. There's always something going on with snowmobiling in the province of Manitoba, no matter what time of year it is.
 
I am an avid snowmobiler; I love anything to do with snowmobiles. I ride as much as I can all over the province – I rode from Churchill to Thompson and from Thompson to Brandon 5 times so far as part of the Lion's Club Journey For Sight.

Brian Franzmann

Alternate Central Region Director

Started snowmobiling with an Alouette (dad called it a 2 to 1) 2 days in the shop and 1 day riding. I then had a 72 Charger and a 74 Colt SS. One year when there was an overabundance of snowfall, I got stuck on the barn roof. Dad never could figure out how those shingles got torn off.

I started farming in 1982 when dad passed away from cancer. Farming was tough in those days so I started a contracting company and worked in a welding shop for several winters and always enjoyed welding projects of my own in my shop, leaving little time for snowmobiling.

In 2007, I started riding again, and became President of the Cross Country Snow Drifters in 2010. The enjoyment that I get of being a President is meeting new people and making new friends, sitting by the fire at a shelter. Oh yeah - I like to ride too! I hope to trailer to different parts of Manitoba in the future. 

John Fleming

Alternate Eastern Region Director

John and his wife retired to Lac du Bonnet in 2012 after working for the RCMP for 36 years. John has been involved in snowmobiling since he bought his first sled in Steinbach in 1975. As his work moved him around the province he has had the opportunity to snowmobile both recreationally and through work in many parts of the province from Norway House to the Canadian/US Border.

John became involved with the Eastman SnoPALs to find other retired riders and that relationship grew as he became a Director, Vice President and now the President of the club. John served as the club representative to ERSA for several years and is now the club alternate.

Terry Enstrom

Alternate Interlake Region Director

Live in Teulon with my wife Wendy. We have lived in Teulon ever since we were married in 1980. We raised our two daughters (Judi & Lori) here. Judi and Son-in-law Glenn live just outside of Teulon with their two children (Brody & Annestyn). Lori lives in Beausejour with her husband Justin and their son Lucas.

I first started riding when I was 10 years old. Started by riding on a Ski-doo, a 292 Olympic to be exact. I did most of my riding in the north shoal lake area with my older brothers. I spent most the weekends riding around in an area no bigger then one square mile. By the end of the weekend, you couldn’t see a spot where there hadn’t a set of sled tracks.

I purchased my first sled in 1999. It was a 1999 two up touring Ski-Doo. Road for the first year on my own. Since this was a little boring, I decided to check out what clubs were in the area for the next riding season. In 2001, I joined the Inwood Snowmobile Club since this was the area I did grow up in.

I spent the first year as a volunteer in the membership. The club was small and it only groomed a small section of trail from Erinview through Inwood and up to Narcisse. A total of 36 kilometers and we groomed this with bombardier sidewalk cleaner with a 5 foot wide drag.

In 2002, I was elected as Vice-President and have held that position ever since. Our club now grooms a total of 120 kilometers of trail with two Tucker Sno-cats. We also have two warm up/emergency shelters and property in Inwood where we can park and maintain our equipment. Our trail system links up with 5 other clubs in the Interlake and can be considered a main hub.

It’s ironic that the area I first started riding in is only a half mile away from one of our shelters and is still my favorite place to go riding through the winding trails that we are all so proud of.

I’m very proud to say that I’ve had a part of a club that has done so much in a short period of time (dedicated volunteers).

I do enjoy riding out to our shelters during the weekends to meet other riders and discuss with them their thoughts, concerns and comments. I have upgraded to a newer sled, I’m currently riding a blue and silver 2006 GSX so if you see it at one of our shelters, please stop in and say hello.

Chris Chell

Alternate Northern Region Director

No bio provided.

Jack Bolack

Alternate Western Region Director