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.

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.

Dale is a native Floridian and is a 1970 graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University

Richard Dunkel, Board Member

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.

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. He has been 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.

Wellington serverd as 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.

He has been 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, Treasurer

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 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. 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.

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 & 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 serves on the Hillsborough Greenways Committee.

Sally is one of the founding members of the Tampa Bay Conservancy, a nonprofit local land trust. She also has been involved with the Hillsborough County Lands Acquisition and Protection Program (ELAPP) since its inception and serves on both the General Committee and the Selection Team.

Sally has a Bachelor of Arts from Hollins University in Virginia, and a Master of Public Administration from the University of South Florida. She served on the Governing Board of the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) for over 11 years, and is retired from the City of Tampa.

Jena Brooks, Vice-President

Jena is currently Director of Operations of the real estate auction company, Tranzon Driggers, in Ocala. Previously, she lived in Tallahassee and served for 19 years for the State of Florida in various capacities. She was Director of the Office of Greenways & Trails in the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for 10 years and prior to that served as Chief Cabinet Aide to the Florida Commissioner of Education, as well as working in the Department of Insurance, the Department of State, and the Florida Senate.

She has served as a member of various statewide planning boards and worked on numerous projects over the years involving land management issues, land conservation and acquisition, trail planning and advocacy, multi-agency partnerships, and statewide planning efforts for regional trail development.

Prior to her years with the State of Florida, Jena was a high school English and creative writing teacher. Volunteer activities include Cops for Kids, the Marion County Literacy Council, Cross Florida Greenway, and Ocala Mountain Biking Association.

Jena is a graduate of Florida State University with a concentration in English and communications. Jena has been a member of the Florida Greenways and Trails Foundation since November 2011.

Mark T. Llewellyn, P.E., Secretary

As a Professional Engineer, Mark Llewellyn has had the opportunity to lead the planning and design of multiple Greenway, Trail, and Park projects across Florida. The most notable greenway and trail projects include the Withlacoochee Bay Trail, Four Freedoms Trail, O'Leno to Ichetucknee Trail, Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, Gopher Frog and Alligator Trail, and Capital Cascade Trail.

Mark is a Brigham Young University graduate with over 30 years of Civil Engineering experience. He enjoys both on and off-road cycling, and is an avid backpacker. Service to his community has included being actively involved in the Greater Tallahassee Chamber of Commerce, the Economic Development Council of Tallahassee and Boy Scouts of America. His professional affiliations include the Florida Engineering Society, Institute of Transportation Engineers and the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Mark co-founded Genesis Group in 1987 and currently serves as the firm’s President and CEO. Genesis Group has a long history of providing professional planning and engineering design services for both private and public sector clients with a passion for taking projects from Vision to Reality. Throughout his career, Mark has been an advocate and supporter of the ever expanding greenways and trails across the state.