Board of Directors
Purpose-Driven Leadership for Practical Impact
By bringing together leadership from across sectors, the board helps position MACFA as a trusted regional partner capable of translating complex environmental challenges into practical, scalable solutions.
How the Board Supports MACFA
Strategic oversight
Helps guide long-term priorities that align mission, projects, and regional impact.
Community-centered governance
Supports an approach that listens first and builds with communities, not for them.
Partnership development
Strengthens relationships across local governments, industry, philanthropy, and community organizations.
Accountability for results
Keeps MACFA focused on measurable outcomes, implementation, and responsible growth.
Governance Values That Reflect Our Mission
MACFA’s board leadership is shaped by the same principles that guide our work in communities: authenticity, collaboration, practicality, and a commitment to lasting change.
Practical Solutions
We believe environmental progress must be realistic, locally relevant, and structured for implementation. The board helps keep MACFA focused on solutions that communities can actually use and sustain.
Regional Collaboration
Middle America’s environmental challenges require coordination across cities, towns, watersheds, and sectors. The board supports a collaborative model that brings science, industry, and community leadership together.
Lasting Community Impact
MACFA exists to create measurable environmental and economic progress over time. Board oversight helps ensure that projects move beyond awareness into durable outcomes that strengthen communities.
Board Responsibilities
MACFA’s board leadership is shaped by the same principles that guide our work in communities: authenticity, collaboration, practicality, and a commitment to lasting change.
Mission and Strategy
The board helps guide MACFA’s strategic direction, ensuring that programs and partnerships continue to advance plastic pollution reduction, watershed resilience, water quality improvement, reuse and recycling systems, and other community-driven environmental priorities.
Partnership and Advocacy
MACFA’s success depends on trusted relationships. The board supports strategic partnerships and helps strengthen the networks needed to connect local leadership, funding, implementation partners, and emerging opportunities.
Oversight and Stewardship
Board members provide governance oversight that supports organizational integrity, responsible growth, effective use of resources, and strong long-term stewardship of MACFA’s mission and public trust.
Scalable Regional Impact
The board helps ensure that MACFA’s work remains adaptable and scalable, supporting models that can be tested in one community, strengthened through collaboration, and expanded across multiple cities and river communities.
Meet the Board
Add your current board members below. The sample bios are written to match MACFA’s mission and can be edited once you have final names, titles, and credentials.
Dawn Temple
Board Treasurer
City of Moline, IL, Management Analyst/Grant Coordinator
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Dawn Temple is a Management Analyst/Grant Coordinator for the City of Moline with over 20 years of experience turning big ideas into funded projects. Working at the intersection of strategy, funding, and sustainability, she has secured millions for environmental, infrastructure, and community initiatives. Dawn holds degrees in Economics and an MBA and is passionate about driving meaningful community and environmental impact.
Andrew Turnage
Board Secretary
LIV Group, Founding Partner
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Andrew Turnage is the Founder and CEO of Liv Group LLC, bringing over 20 years of expertise in marketing, branding, and business development. A graduate with a BA in Marketing and an MBA in Advertising, he has supported St. Louis professionals through leadership programs and his signature 7-Step Brand Map, helping over 100 clients in 2024.
Mark Benfield
Board President
Professor Emeritus, Department of Oceanography & Coastal Sciences
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Mark Benfield is a Professor Emeritus in the Dept. of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at Louisiana State University. His research interests include plastic pollution, microplastics, and deep-sea ecology. He received his B.Sc. from the Univ. of Toronto, M.Sc. from the Univ. of Kwazulu-Natal, and Ph.D. from Texas A&M followed by a Postdoc at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
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Provides financial stewardship and oversight to help ensure that MACFA’s resources support high-impact projects, sustainable growth, and long-term community value.
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Brings expertise that strengthens MACFA’s work in community engagement, environmental resilience, project design, and solutions that create both ecological and economic benefits.
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Helps guide MACFA’s regional vision by supporting collaboration across communities, industries, and institutions working toward cleaner waterways and stronger local futures.
Working Together for a Cleaner, More Resilient Future
MACFA’s board helps guide an organization committed to tangible progress, lasting change, and community-driven solutions that protect waterways, reduce pollution, and strengthen the future of Middle America. If you are interested in partnering, supporting our work, or learning more about our mission, we welcome the conversation.