Governance - Bethesda Big Train

Executive Board

Officers

Bruce Adams

President & Founder

Bruce co-founded the Bethesda Community Base Ball Club in 1998 to build Shirley Povich Field, create the Bethesda Big Train, and raise money to improve fields for kids. Bruce has served as a Montgomery County Council member and as director of County Executive Ike Leggett’s Office of Community Partnerships.

Born and raised in Potomac, Bruce and his wife Peggy live in Bethesda. Daughter Emily was a Big Train volunteer, and son Hugh played for the Big Train. A founder of the Ripken League in 2005, Bruce was an inaugural member of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League Hall of Fame. A 1998 Washingtonian of the Year, Bruce received the Peacemaker of the Year Award in 2017 from the Conflict Resolution Center of Montgomery County. In 2020, Bruce was inducted into the Montgomery County Human Rights Hall of Fame and named a Hero Against Hunger by the Manna Food Center.

In 2024, Bruce received Montgomery County’s Neal Potter Path of Achievement Award and Maryland AARP’s Andrus Award for Community Service.

Kibbitzing with Kagan: Episode #12 – Bruce Adams (November 23, 2020)

See Bruce's interview with Tommy McFly of NBC 4 (June 13, 2023)

See Bruce given a Local Hero award by U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin (June 30, 2023)

Bruce Adams CRCBL Hall of Fame (2019)

Amy Matush

Vice President

Amy attended her first Big Train game in 2012. Povich Field set the stage for some of her most cherished family memories and the foundation for friendships that will last a lifetime. Amy was born and raised in Monongahela, a small steel town south of Pittsburgh, PA and received her Masters in Community Health Education from West Virginia University. Amy moved to the DC area in 1999 and started her career at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 2000. She is currently the Chief of the Ethics and Management Analysis Branch at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), NIH.

Amy lives in Potomac, with her husband David and two sons Austin and Owen. They have hosted players since 2018, and Amy has served as one of the Host Family Coordinators since 2021. In addition to being a huge Big Train fan, Amy cheers for her Steelers and Penguins! But what brings her the most joy is watching Austin and Owen play baseball!

Bill Landau

Treasurer

Emailtreasurer@bigtrain.org

Bill has been a baseball fan since his parents took him to a Dodgers game at Ebbets Field at age five. He discovered the Big Train in the early years and has been a Corporate Season Pass holder since 2008. He is an Army Vietnam veteran, and worked for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for more than 23 years, before taking an early retirement in 2001. Since then he has been a self-employed computer consultant.

Bill’s wife Gail practiced family law in Montgomery County for more than 30 years. They have three grown children and one grandson. Bill has extensive experience with nonprofits, having been Secretary and President of the board of his coop apartment building in Elmhurst, NY. He was a board member of his synagogue, Beth Sholom Congregation, serving as Secretary, Treasurer, and President. He is currently serving as Treasurer of Jewish War Veterans Post 692.

Bill Hickman

Secretary

Bill has served the Big Train as its team historian, volunteer coordinator, Booster Club secretary, and souvenir program editor. Originally from Chicago, Bill lives in Rockville where he has co-founded the Rockville Baseball Hall of Fame. A member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), he chaired its Pictorial History Committee for ten years. Prior to his retirement, Bill served in senior positions such as Director, Office of Medicaid Policy, at the Health Care Financing Administration, now known as CMS.

Board Members

Stan Berman

A lifelong baseball fan who was raised in Silver Spring and now lives in North Potomac, Stan is a CPA whose experience with both national and international nonprofit organizations includes serving as CFO of B’nai B’rith International, Global Impact, and Lutheran Services in America.

A past president of the Greater Washington Society of CPAs, Stan has been the recipient of many prestigious awards in the field of finance, including a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Washington Business Journal in 2014 and GWSCPA’s 2019 Outstanding Member in Business and Industry.

Stan served as a member of the Board of Directors of Temple Beth Ami for sixteen years, including four years as Treasurer, and he is currently Treasurer of the Golden Sands Club Condominium. He is a past president of the Wharton School Club of Washington.

Jamie Boston

Jamie is a decorated Iraq War Combat Veteran now serving as a lawyer for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. A lifelong baseball fan, Jamie and his family live in Kensington where he founded Kensington's Juneteenth Celebration. Jamie is a board member of Montgomery History.

Rebecca Crowley

Becky has been a Big Train Host Mom for almost two decades, hosting more than 35 “sons” from all over the United States. Becky enjoys nothing more than traveling across the country to watch her “sons” play. She has been on the Big Train Booster Club and volunteered at numerous positions and functions over the years. She is Treasurer of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League and has been selected to be in the league's Hall of Fame. Becky was born and raised in Bethesda Maryland and is Vice President of R J Crowley Inc.

Rebecca Crowley CRCBL Hall of Fame (2020)

Katelyn Engen

Katelyn grew up in Kensington. In high school and college, she and her friends were often tasked with absorbing Big Train players into their summer activities by neighborhood host families, leading to many humid evenings at Povich, cheering on summertime friends. She has a bachelor’s degree from University of Delaware and master’s degree from University of Maryland. Katelyn works at the University of Maryland as an Athletic Trainer for the eighteen collegiate athletic teams.

Billy Gordon

Billy Gordon, a Rockville native and current Olney resident, is an expert on the history of the Negro Leagues and Black community baseball in Montgomery County. Billy’s athletic talents won him a place in the Richard Montgomery High School Athletics Hall of Fame (2012) and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore Basketball Hall of Fame (2004/2012). He earned a Masters Degree in Education at Howard University and served the Montgomery County Public Schools for 38 years, ten as a teacher and 28 as an administrator. Both Billy and his two sons proudly began their athletic careers with the Rockville Baseball Association. Billy’s son Keith played for the Cincinnati Reds.

Linda Hallman

Linda has been a baseball fan for most of her life. If she and her family are not at Povich Field supporting Big Train, they are probably at Nationals Park. They have welcomed Big Train players into their family since 2014 and maintain contact with them. Her son Adrian is an assistant to Coach G at the Big Train Summer Camps and has unofficially reserved his seat along the third baseline. She grew up in Pennsylvania and now lives in Chevy Chase with her husband Mike and son. Linda received her DDS and PhD from the University of Maryland. She is currently Director of Orthodontics at MedStar Washington Hospital Center and Children’s National Medical Center, and Co-Director of the National Orofacial Institute. She maintains a private practice in Orthodontics in Chevy Chase. She also serves on an Advisory Board to Gillette Children’s Hospital in St Paul, Minnesota and the Dreams for Kids Foundation.

Manny Hidalgo

Manny is a second generation Cuban-American from Silver Spring. He has lived and worked in the DC area for 33 years since moving up from Miami to attend Georgetown University. He serves as Executive Director of Shepherd’s Table and prior to that served for nine years as Executive Director of the Latino Economic Development Center. He helped organize Big Train’s first Latino Baseball Heritage Night in 2009 when Roberto Clemente’s jersey number was retired. In 2016, he helped organize the Cal Ripken League’s trip to Cuba to play a series of exhibition games against professional teams in Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, and Havana.

Dick Lipsky

After 39 years, Dick recently retired from MCPS as the TV Supervisor in the Office of Communications. He is a lifelong baseball fan and has attended Big Train games for most of their history. He has earned a doctorate from Penn State University in Instructional Systems Design and a masters' in Communications from The Ohio State University. He worked his way through undergraduate school as a bank teller while attending CCNY. With his spare time, when he is not rooting for the local teams, he and Karen enjoy doing volunteer work together for a variety of non-profits in the Washington DC area.

Ramin Nejaddehghan

Ramin is a lifelong baseball fan with a passion for nonprofit organizations. After growing up in Potomac and later moving to Columbia, joining Big Train is Ramin’s chance to return home and help give back to the community in which he developed his love for the game. Now living in Washington, D.C., he practices commercial real estate finance law at Krooth & Altman LLP. He enjoys all things sports, believes that country music isn’t what it used to be, and also devotes his time to a nonprofit organization called Soldiers for Wildlife.

Rachel Northridge

Rachel was raised in Potomac where her family became early Bethesda Big Train fans. Over the span of a decade, hosting players and serving as an inaugural member of the team’s Leadership Council, Rachel credits the Big Train volunteer community for jump-starting her career. After earning a bachelor’s from James Madison University and master’s from Georgetown, Rachel now works at Monumental Sports and Entertainment, managing suites for Capital One Arena’s +200 events. She regularly ventures from her home in the Wharf to the third base stands in Povich.

Hans Riemer

A three term member of the Montgomery County Council, Hans secured funding to restore Johnson’s Park (the epicenter of our Black sandlots) and improve the Blair High School field (home of the Thunderbolts). A resident of Takoma Park, Hans has been a youth baseball coach for his son’s teams.

Jenn Robinson

>Jenn lives in Broad Run, VA and was introduced to the Big Train by her son Jack, who was a pitcher for the Big Train in the summer 2023 season. She is no newcomer youth baseball or to nonprofit organizations. Jenn has more than 10 years of experience in travel and showcase baseball. She started on the Board of Directors with the Virginia Stars before becoming the CFO of Stars Baseball upon their merger. She also runs a very successful restaurant — Denim & Pearls located in Warrenton, VA — where she serves on the Fauquier Chamber Women’s Business Council as well as Experience Old Town Warrenton, the Main Street America nonprofit organization for Warrenton.

Alex Thompson

Alex has spent his entire adult life around the Big Train, serving as the club’s Assistant General Manager and then General Manager from 2001 to 2005. He went on to become the first Executive Director of the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League and served a season as the League’s commissioner in 2013 before helping the league transition to its current leadership. Alex still serves as an advisor to the league. He is a partner of Prestige-Ledroit Distributing Co., a distributor of premium wine and spirits in the DC area.

Bruce Adams Founder & President (2025)	Amy Matush Vice President (2026)	Bill Landau Treasurer (2025)
Bill Hickman, Secretary (2025)	Stan Berman (2026)	Jamie Boston (2026)
Rebecca Crowley (2024)	Katelyn Engen (2024)	Billy Gordon (2025)
Linda Hallman (2024)	Manny Hidalgo (2026)	Dick Lipsky (2024)
Ramin Nejaddehghan (2024)	Rachel Northridge (2025)	Hans Riemer (2026)
Jenn Robinson (2026)	Alex Thompson (2026)