Florida Greenways & Trails Foundation

W. Dale Allen, President

Dale Allen joined the Trust for Public Land (TPL) in 1981, was appointed Southeast Regional Manager in 1986, made a Vice President in 1988, and Senior Vice President in 1999. As regional director, he is responsible for TPL's work in a nine-state area that stretches from the Carolinas south to Florida and west to Louisiana.

Among his most notable land preservation accomplishments during his twenty-five year history with TPL is the preservation of the 450-year old DeSoto-Apalachee Historic and Archaeological site and the Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway in Tallahassee. Dale has been a member of the Florida Trail Association for more than 20 years, and was responsible for surveying and developing the Florida Trail from the Suwannee River to the Apalachicola River, a distance of 150 miles which included sections through the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge (the only coastal section in north Florida) and along the Aucilla River and Sinks.

A native Floridian, Dale was raised in Hollywood and attended schools in Broward County. He is a 1970 graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University

Herb Hiller, Vice-President

Herb Hiller's current assignment as Southeast Region Program Consultant for the East Coast Greenway Alliance benchmarks almost 40 years of leadership in sustainable tourism, bicycling and trails.

In the 1970s as executive director of the Caribbean Travel Association, Herb prioritized locally resourceful tourism and secured long-term funding for its effectuation through the Caribbean Tourism Research Center, which he organized.

He initiated Florida's late-20th-century bicycling and bed-and-breakfast movements. He has served on the board of American Youth Hostels, as editor of The International Ecotourism Society Newsletter and as consultant to Rails-to-Trails Conservancy.

Additional recent consultancies include 1000 Friends of Florida, Visit Florida, Florida Parks, Volusia County's River of Lakes Heritage Corridor, and the Hollywood Beach CRA.

As a writer, Herb's Guide to the Small & Historic Lodgings of Florida won the Society of American Travel Writers Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award as best travel guidebook; his Highway A1A; Florida at the Edge, won Grand Book Prize honors of the North American Travel Journalists Association.

Herb contributes a bi-weekly report on Florida travel and tourism to the Daytona Beach News-Journal.

He is also founding chairman of the Society of American Travel Writers Institute for Travel Writing & Photography, which convenes each January in Orlando.

Richard Dunkel, Secretary

Richard Dunkel is President of Trail Friends, Inc. in Mount Dora, Florida. He has been a bicycling and Rails-to Trails advocate since 1988. He was one of the founding Board Members and first Chairman of the Florida Chapter of the Rails to Trails Conservancy. He started Trail Friends, Inc., a Central Florida based trails organization, of which he is the current President.

He was a several term member of and Chairman of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection's Recreational Trails Council. He has been active on a National, State and local level lobbying for Trails. Currently, he is the Secretary of the newly formed Citizen Support Organization for the Office of Greenways and Trails. Rich has sat on a number of Trail and Bike-Ped Boards and has been involved in many land and paddling trail projects throughout the State of Florida.

Jim Davis, Treasurer

Jim Davis is a certified public accountant serving individuals, businesses and nonprofits in North Florida through his financial and accounting firm in Tallahassee. Jim's past experience includes serving as a chief financial officer in both the nonprofit and for-profit sector, as well as providing tax and financial service through his office. A strong interest of his is the fundraising of nonprofit operations, especially in the area of planned charitable giving.

A graduate of the University of Florida with a concentration in economics and Florida State University with a degree in accounting. Jim currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Advent Christian Village, a retirement community in Dowling Park, Florida, Treasurer for the First Presbyterian Preschool in Tallahassee and a member of the Capital City Kiwanis Club. He was formerly a Board member and Treasurer of the Florida Trail Association.

Dr. Linda Crider, Board Member

Linda Crider is the Executive Director for Bike Florida, Inc., a non-profit bicycling organization that supports safe cycling in Florida and hosts several touring events during the year. For 18 years Linda served on the Faculty of the University of Florida, Department of Urban and Regional Planning where she worked with research and training projects to help make bicycling and walking safer and a more integral part of communities.

In 1991-92 she was the grant project director on a major research project called the "Florida Home-To-School Transportation Study", looking at the travel patterns of Florida's school children. From that, she continued the research and teamed with the Florida Dept. of Education to develop a 10-school pilot "Safe Ways to School" project in 1997-98. From the pilot came a Safe Ways to School "tool kit" which was distributed to schools in Florida and subsequently has been used by NHTSA, LAB, CDC and various other states.

Dr. Crider has also done significant research with Florida DOT in Multimodal planning, using video analysis techniques for modeling bicycle and pedestrian Level of Service. In her semi-retirement status, Linda will continue to guide Bike Florida's fall and spring events, the statewide Share the Road campaign efforts, and a new "Spinning the Florida Trails" DVD series project for promoting trails to "would be" riders and interested bicycling tourists. Linda's singing/songwriting talents have extended to her interests in bicycling as one part of the global warming solution. She has several CDs with original songs, and a book titled "Children of the Bay" which takes place in her summer hometown, Cordova, Alaska.

Linda can be reached May through September in Cordova and October through April in Florida where she will continue to conduct bicycle safety trainings for the Florida Traffic and Bicycle Safety Education Program. Linda is a League of American Bicyclists Certified Instructor and also serves as a national trainer for the National Safe Routes to School training program.

Wellington Meffert, Board Member

General counsel and legislative lobbyist for Florida Housing Finance Corporation, a public corporation which issues bonds, awards funding, and allocates federal tax credits for the construction of affordable housing in Florida. Previously of counsel with the Tallahassee office of Akerman Senterfitt, with a practice focused on governmental relations, administrative law, professional licensing, and construction litigation. Represented various interests including developers, contractors, agricultural/biotech, airports, title insurance, cemeteries, and planning agencies. Involved with the statewide building code issue for more than six years, including serving on advisory groups to the Governor's Building Code Study Commission and on the Administration and Code Enforcement Technical Advisory Committee to the Florida Building Commission.

Lead lobbyist for the affordable housing bills, 2006-2011, and lead lobbyist for the construction industry on the 1998 legislation which created the Florida Building Commission and authorized the statewide Florida Building Code, as well as the 2000 legislation implementing the Florida Building Code. Lead lobbyist and principal drafter of the post-Andrew 1993 Construction Reform Act, which mandated state licensing of building officials and required continuing education for contractor license renewal.

Engaged in construction and housing issues for thirty years; as former Director of Governmental Affairs, Florida Home Builders Association, as Chief Construction Attorney, Department of Business and Professional Regulation; as a building contractor and as a carpenter.

Born in Ocala, Florida; family has been in Marion County since 1882.

Linda Myers, Board Member

Linda Myers has owned and operated a Dunkin Donut franchise in Palatka for the past 27 years adding a Baskin Robbins franchise to it in 2002. As a CPA, Linda maintains a public accounting practice and does volunteer work for many 'Not for Profits". She has served as an elected County Commissioner for eight years (1998-2006), Chair 2002 and 2006.

She is active in her community and the Northeast Florida Region, having served as chair of the Northeast Florida Regional Council, and a director (1993-2006), chair of the Northeast Florida Workforce Development Council and is a past-president of the Putnam County Chamber of Commerce. At the state level, Linda represented Putnam County at the Florida Association of Counties, Small County Coalition (chairman 2006) and was a trustee of the Florida Association of Counties Trust, President. Served on the FDOT 2020 plan as a representative of Rural Florida.

Linda is a 2005 graduate of the 'Leadership Florida' program and has been active with their college mentoring program Linda also participated in the 2nd Class of the North East Florida Regional Academy. Linda has served on the Northeast Florida Community Action Agency for many years in different capacities and is standing for election to Chairman of NFCAA January 27, 2011 for the 2011 year. One of her more critical endeavors has been serving as president of Lee Conlee House and long-term director, a service provider to Domestic abuse vicitms. As a past chair of the Putnam County United Way , she continues to be active in United Way and it's agencies.

Linda and her husband serve as Co-Chairs of The Eddie Mooney Foundation Event, which supports the needs of ARC clients in Putnam County. Linda received her undergraduate and Master of Accounting degrees from the University of Florida and became a CPA in Florida in 1992. Linda is a member of the Florida and Santa Fe Audubon Society. She is married to Vernon Myers; they enjoy their six children and are blessed with six granddaughters and one grandson . Linda and her husband enjoy our natural environment via bird/butterfly nurturing through gardening and watching and biking on the trials that surround Putnam County.

Merritt O'Brien, Board Member

Merritt F. O'Brien, a graduate of University of Connecticut, has been a Floridian since 1964. As a South Florida resident he worked with Dade County Parks & Recreation Dept. as a District Supervisor of Golf Courses. In l979 he relocated to Sebring where he founded his own parts company. He continues to work at Brake Service of Central Florida, Inc.

In Highlands County he has been actively involved in the Sebring Sunrise Rotary Club serving in many leadership capacities including President 2005-06. Merritt currently serves as Chairman of the Recreation & Parks Advisory Committee to the Highlands County Board of Commissioners.

In 1999 he was able to take his interest in bicycling to the community. Serving as the Chairman of the Trails Initiative Committee (1999-2003) the Blueways, Greenways, Bikeways and Trails Master Plan for Highlands Country was initiated and completed. The Board of County Commissioners incorporated said plan into the County Comprehensive Plan in 2000 and 2003.

In 2004 the Ridge Trails Association was founded by Merritt O'Brien, who continues to serve as the President of the 501C3 organization. The RTA initiated the "Heartland Triathlon" in 2006 which is the largest participatory event in Highlands County. "The Big Canoe Challenge" was inaugurated in 2007 which allowed participation in the community waterways for Florida residents as well as generating income for the RTA.

The Town of Lake Placid, Florida formed a 2007 Trails Committee and Mr. O'Brien was requested to serve as Chairman of the sub-committee (part of the Long Range Transportation Committee) which developed a trail master plan specifically for the Town. The plan was subsequently adopted by the Town Council.

Merritt and his wife have six adult children and twelve grandchildren.

Sally Thompson, Board Member

Sally Thompson served on the Florida Greenways Commission, the Florida Greenways Coordinating Council and was first Chair of the Florida Greenways and Trails Council. She is one of the original members of the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation. She chairs the Tampa Greenways and Trails Citizens Advisory Committee and is Vice-Chair of the Hillsborough Greenways Committee.

Thompson is one of the founding members of the Tampa Bay Conservancy, a nonprofit local land trust. She has a BA from Hollins University and an MPA from the University of South Florida. She served on the Governing Board of SWFWMD for over 11 years, and is retired from the City of Tampa.