Meet the 2008 Board Members

2008 LL&W Board Members from left back row: 
Tom Rowe, Richard Bowers, Curtis Lundy, Melvin Menke, Gerry Brown, Mark Werning, Anne Colville, Natalie Linville Mass, Rick Widdel, Bob Karll, Ralph Heninger, Chad Pregracke & Terry Becker.

Lundy combined his business career with helping to form Partners of Scott County Watersheds and the Xstream Cleanup. He is now dividing his time between QCA projects and ecological restoration work on his 130 acre bluff and stream property in northeast Iowa, and is a member of the Board of Nahant Marsh.

Terry Becker, Riverway Foundation President, Bloomington, MN

Mr. Becker graduated from Colorado College in 1976 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. He spent a year with the Colorado Department of Wildlife conducting research on raptors, banding young prairie falcons, peregrine falcons and osprey.

Mr. Becker has served 13 years as a Director of the American Waterways Operators, serving two terms on the Executive Committee, Chairman of the Inland Dry Sector of AWO and as well as Chairman of the Mid-continent Region. He has served as a Director and member of the Executive Committee of he National Waterways Conference, Secretary, Treasurer, and Chairman of Marine Transportation Council, and a director and currently Vice Chairman of Marc 2000. He recently was elected as a trustee of the National Waterways Foundation.

Mark Werning, is Senior Vice President & Chief Operating Officer of THE National Bank, Bettendorf, Iowa. He joined the Board of LL&W in January 2007 and serves as Chairman of the Finance Committee. He graduated from Luther College, Decorah, Iowa in 1980 with degrees in Management and Economics, and graduated from the Graduate School of Banking with an Audit major in 1986. Mark serves on Boards or Committees of numerous non-profit organizations. Mark lives in Bettendorf with his wife Deb and three young children. His family loves the outdoors, and enjoys being involved in many environmental and conservation projects. Please help us clean up our rivers and waterways - encourage children to get involved!

Gerry Brown, is former president of Cargill Marine and Terminal, Inc., a Cargill subsidiary. He joined Cargill in 1969 as a trainee after graduating from the University of Minnesota with a degree in business. He was named branch office manager in St. Louis in 1974, division sales manager in 1978, and became vice president of operations in 1985. Brown is the former chairman and president of the Upper Mississippi Waterways Association and a board member of American Waterway Operators and Marc 2000. He is also the chairman of the Inland Waterways Users Board.

Natalie Linville Mass , Natalie Linville Mass, President, Media Link, Inc. Rock Island, Illinois joined Living Lands & Waters after walking along Mississippi riverfront and finding a couple of sunken cars, a dresser and half a dozen large oilcans. Through phone calls, city officials led her to Living Lands & Waters. She has always been interested in the environment. Her educational and career background is in Mass Communications and Advertising, but she has consistently looked for a way to combine her two loves. She has worked with "The Water Foundation" (a company devoted to educating the public on the environment practices through radio vignettes) and "Earth 911" (a non-profit organization focused on educating the public on other environmental non-profits in their area and how they can get involved and be more environmentally concious) and now owns a full-service advertising agency, Media Link, Inc., where she hopes to help more environmentally friendly companies succeed.  

Ralph W. Heninger is Vice President and Treasurer of the law firm Heninger and Heninger, P.C. located in Davenport, Iowa. Ralph graduated from Colorado College with a B.A degree in Economics in 1981 and from The University of Iowa College of Law in 1984 when he began the general practice of law with Heninger and Heninger, P.C. Ralph has served as a board member and President of the Bettendorf Community Schools Foundation and as a board member of the Scott County Family Y; he volunteers with Big Brothers and Big Sisters. He is a member of and has been active in numerous local, state and national bar associations and is admitted to practice in numerous state and federal courts in Iowa and Illinois and the U.S. Supreme Court. Ralph resides along the Mississippi River with his wife and children and they spend as much time as possible on the River.

Bob Karll is a partner in Trissel Graham & Toole Inc., a local commercial insurance agency with offices in Davenport, Muscatine and Sterling, Illinois. He graduated from the University of Iowa in 1978, majoring in insurance. He is a past president of the Bettendorf Kiwanis, Bettendorf Community Schools Foundation and the Independent Insurance Agents of Scott County. Living in Bettendorf with his wife, Pam, their house overlooks the river, and being avid boater, he is interested in the Mississippi River and its natural environment.

Rick Widdel, is the Vice President of Finance for United Way of the Quad Cities Area. He has held this position for over 25 years. Rick received his education from St. Ambrose University. Rick has resided in the Quad Cities Are his entire life. He currently lives in Moline, IL with his wife Patti and their three daughters. He volunteers on the fund raising committee with Living Lands and Waters, as well as being a Board member with the Rock Island County Advocacy Center and Christ United Methodist Church in East Moline, IL.

Anne Colville is a freelance magazine editor. Her river experience began during a childhood summer vacation, when her family cruised the upper Mississippi by houseboat. An avid outdoorswoman, she has canoed, kayaked, and camped along many Midwestern waterways, including Lake Superior, the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers. Her most ambitious – and most rewarding - environmental project to date has been helping her husband plant 2,000 trees on a farm in Rock Island County, Illinois. Anne received her education from Iowa State University. She resides in Bettendorf, Iowa and also volunteers on the boards of Quad City Arts and the Bettendorf Community Schools Foundation.

Mel Menke is currently a VP of Cargill Marine & Terminal Inc, a Cargill company.  He joined LL&W in the summer of 2008.  Mel graduated from Purdue University with a Masters in Agricultural Economics.  He has been with Cargill for 21 years.  During this time he has been in the grain business working at various locations across the United States from the Mid-West to California.  He has held various positions in merchandising, transportation, elevator management and IT management duties.  Mel was introduced to LL&W during his time spent in New Orleans helping with recovery efforts and clean-up post hurricane Katrina in 2005-06.

Richard G. Bowers Jr.
Rick is a graduate of Princeton University, with an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. While at Stanford, he was also selected for the Public Management Program, a special additional study program for non-profit management and policy.

Since 1975, he has been the President of The Bowers Group, a group of small businesses specializing in life insurance and corporate benefit plans, investment management, and estate and charitable gift planning.

He has served as President of the Quad City Life Underwriters Association, the Quad City Estate Planning Council, and the New York Life Insurance Company Charitable Giving Advisory Board over the past two decades. He currently serves as Treasurer of the Quad City Planned Giving Council Board.

Since 1995, much of his time has been devoted to community service. Currently he is on the following boards:

Local Organizations

• Figge Art Museum (Executive Committee)
• Museum of Art Foundation (President)
• Quad City Arts (Literary Chair)
• John Deere Classic
• Friendly House
• Living Lands & Waters
• See Life Clearly Foundation (Treasurer)
• Life At Night Foundation