Madison Community Foundation Board of Governors
Jac B. Garner - Chair
Jac B. Garner has been President and CEO of Webcrafters since 1996, and has been with Webcrafters since 1986, serving in various management capacities. He is currently a member of the boards of the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Bank, Sustain Dane, and Book Manufacturer’s Institute. Mr. Garner has also served in various capacities on the board and campaign committees for United Way of Dane County.
Blaine Renfert - Vice Chair
Blaine R. Renfert is a partner with Foley & Lardner LLP and is a member of the firm’s Transactions & Securities and Real Estate Practices. A Madison native, Mr. Renfert is active in civic and community affairs, having coached youth soccer, officiated at swim meets and served as a Boy Scout leader. He is on the board of directors of Sub-Zero Wolf, Inc., the Wisconsin Sports Development Corporation and the Center for Advanced Studies in Business. Mr. Renfert is a graduate of Leadership Greater Madison.
Diane Ballweg
Diane is the founder and president of the Endres Manufacturing Company Foundation. A native of the Madison area, Ms. Ballweg is an active pilot. She initiated the Aviation Program at Edgewood High School in 2000 and continues to teach students to fly. A musician, she serves on the boards of The Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the UW-Madison School of Music Advisors, and WYSO. She serves on several development committees including the Edgewood College Board, the Wisconsin Historical Society Foundation Board and their Capital Campaign Board and Chairs the Porchlight Campaign Committee.
Jim Bradley
Jim Bradley, President of Home Savings Bank, is a life-long resident of Madison. A recognized leader in eco-initiatives, Mr. Bradley has focused his community service in the areas of affordable housing, strengthening downtown Madison and the local economy, and environmental sustainability. He is a board member of Sustain Dane, Greater Madison Convention and Visitors Bureau, Dane Buy Local, Center for Resilient Cities, and the National W Club. Mr. Bradley has also served as Race Director of the Crazylegs Classic for over 20 years.
Steve Brown
Chief Executive Officer and founder of Steve Brown Apartments for almost 30 years, Steve Brown also worked as a supervising attorney in the Consumer Protection Division of the WI Dept. of Agriculture , Trade and Consumer Protection where he was instrumental in the adoption of groundbreaking consumer protection efforts. He is a former president of the Apartment Association of South Central WI and remains an active board member of the organization. A recognized community leader, Mr. Brown has served on many nonprofit, civic organization and arts boards and committees. Mr. Brown helped found the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions at UW-Madison and also sits on the Board of Directors of the WI Higher Education Business Roundtable. Photo courtesy of Eric Tadsen.
Joan A. Burke
President of First Business Trust & Investments, Joan Burke has over 30 years of experience in trust, investment management, mutual fund management and brokerage services. She serves on finance committees for the Attic Angel Association and the Benedictine Women of Madison. Ms. Burke acts as a board member of the Meriter Foundation, and Meriter Health Services, and is a board member and officer of Hospice Care, Inc. She has served on the MCF Investment Committee for over fifteen years.
Frank D. Byrne, M.D.
Frank D. Byrne, M.D. is President of St. Mary’s Hospital. Since his arrival in 2004, St. Mary’s has twice been named among Thompson Rueters’ Top 100 Hospitals and twice been awarded recognition for nursing excellence. Prior to coming to Madison, Dr. Byrne served Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in a variety of executive, governance, and clinical leadership roles, including President. From 1982 to 1994, Dr. Byrne practiced pulmonary and critical care medicine. He is a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and holds fellowships in the American College of Physicians, the American College of Chest Physicians, the American College of Healthcare Executives, and the American College of Physician Executives. Dr. Byrne also serves as a director of Steel Dynamics, Inc.
Jim Cavanaugh
Jim Cavanaugh recently retired after serving for twenty-five years as president of the South Central Federation of Labor, an umbrella organization for some 95 labor groups in the Greater Madison area. He previously served two terms on the MCF Board of Governors, 1987-1997. He was also on the United Way Board, 1987-1995, serving as chair, 1993-1994. Currently he sits on the Board of Madison Area Technical College, the Institute for Wisconsin’s Future, Citizen Action of Wisconsin, and the Workforce Development Board of South Central Wisconsin. He and his wife Vicki live in Madison, as do their two daughters and six grandchildren.
Craig Christianson
As the general counsel for the Promega Corporation, Craig Christianson is responsible for all legal activity, and manages business development related to intellectual property and strategic collaborations. Formerly the Director of Licensing for the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, he managed a team responsible for the marketing, licensing and monitoring of technologies developed by UW researchers for five years. Prior to joining WARF, Mr. Christianson spent 14 years at IBM in various management and executive positions.
Bill DeAtley
Before his retirement in 1998, Bill DeAtley was CFO and co-owner of Strategic Minerals Corporation in Danbury, Connecticut. With a PhD in chemical engineering, Mr. DeAtley devoted his career to the mining industry, but upon retirement, he and his wife Jan chose to focus on philanthropy in areas that affect children such as housing, health, and education. He also is a former Board member and President of Habitat for Humanity Dane County. Mr. DeAtley is also currently on the Board of Madison Museum of Contemporary Art.
Beth Donley
Beth Donley is co-founder and CEO of Stemina Biomarker and Discovery, Inc. Prior to founding Stemina, Ms. Donley served as General Counsel and Director of Business Development of WARF, where she also held the position of Managing Director for both WiSys and WiCell Research Institute. Before joining WARF, Ms. Donley practiced law with Quarles and Brady. Ms. Donley’s community leadership has included being a charter member of A Fund For Women, participating as chair of the professional services division for United Way of Dane County, and serving on the Dane County Executive W2 Committee.
Roberta Gassman
Roberta Gassman is a Senior Fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work where she teaches graduate students in social work, law and public policy. From 2011 to 2013 she served in the Obama Administration as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training at the United States Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. Gassman previously served in the Cabinet of Governor Jim Doyle as the longest serving Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development. She also held senior leadership positions in state, city and county government and the private sector, having served as a senior vice president at Home Savings Bank and as a top aide to Wisconsin Governor Tony Earl, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and Dane County Executive Rick Phelps. Roberta also serves on the boards of the Overture Center Foundation and Edgewood College. She is a past president of the Madison Equal Opportunities Commission and previously served on Madison Community Foundation's Grantsmaking Committee.
Enid Veronica Glenn
Enid Veronica Glenn is the Director of Management Services in the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR), for the State Department of Workforce Development where she oversees program management and support functions. She has been in this position since 2011 and has worked for the State of Wisconsin since 1984. Enid has been an Executive Committee member of A Fund for Women and is a current board member of the United Way of Dane County, as well as a past president of the Board of Directors for Dane Dances, Inc. She is an active member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. focused on community services and support for women and girls. She has served on various workforce boards in South Central Wisconsin and the Milwaukee area.
Peter Lundberg
A popular speaker, columnist and appraiser, Peter Lundberg is proprietor of Janus Galleries, one of the country’s largest collections of original fine-art spanning three centuries. Former owner of Gulliver’s Travels Travel Agency, Mr. Lundberg decided in 1998 to focus on art, volunteer work, and philanthropy. Not only is he a recorded jazz pianist who performs regularly, he is a painter, a triathlete, and an avid gardener who tends to numerous neighborhood gardens as well as those at Hospice Care, Inc. He has won awards for his extensive volunteer work with Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Dane County, Habitat for Humanity, Hospice and many other national and local groups whose missions range from the arts to hunger. He also serves on the boards and committees of Madison Opera, Hospice Care, Inc., and the Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission.
Rich Lynch - Ex-officio
Richard Lynch is President and co-owner of J. H. Findorff & Son Inc. Mr. Lynch has served as Construction Executive for Findorff’s most notable projects, including the Frank Lloyd Wright designed Monona Terrace Convention Center, Overture Center for the Arts and the American Family Children’s Hospital. He contributes his talents and expertise to many professional and civic organizations, including the United Way of Dane County, Downtown Madison Inc., Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the National W Club. In addition, Mr. Lynch is past President and an active board member of the Association of General Contractors of Wisconsin.
Ismael Ozanne
Ismael Ozanne has served as the Dane County District Attorney since appointed by Governor Doyle in 2010. Mr. Ozanne is a life long resident of Dane County and the first African American District Attorney in Wisconsin’s history. He earned both a B.S. and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Mr. Ozanne was a prosecutor for 10 years prior to 2008, when he was appointed as Executive Assistant and then Deputy Secretary of the Department of Corrections (DOC). At the DOC he worked on the department’s $1.2 billion dollar budget, managed the daily operations and 10,000 employees. Mr. Ozanne also worked on the DOC’s response to racial disparities and legislation which later became Act 28 sentencing reforms.
Jeff Pertl
Jeff Pertl is a Dane County Board Supervisor. He is employed as a policy advisor and federal funds trustee for WDPI State Superintendent Tony Evers. As a County Supervisor, Mr. Pertl currently serves on the Public Works and Transportation Committee, Dane County Airport Commission, and Madison Development Corporation. His interests on the County Board focus on cleaning up the lakes and parks, working to close the achievement gap, and improving neighborhoods through infrastructure and economic development.
Dave Stark
Dave Stark is the fourth generation President of Stark Company Realtors. Highly active in leadership roles with Realtor associations on local, state, and national levels, Dave has also been a deeply involved community leader in the Madison area. He currently sits on the United Way of Dane County Board of Directors, for whom he has served as Board Chair, Fundraising Chair, and many other roles. He is also a past president and current Board member of The Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce. Dave’s other community service involved positions with Meriter Foundation Board along with service on the boards of over a dozen area civic, arts, and nonprofit associations.
Martha A. Taylor
Martha A. Taylor is a Vice President at the University of Wisconsin Foundation, where she has served for more than 35 years. She co-founded the Women's Philanthropy Institute, now a program of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University where she serves as adjunct faculty. She is a leading expert on the topic of women's philanthropy and has co-authored three books on the subject. Ms. Taylor has served as board member and officer of many non profit boards including the Evangelical Lutheran Church in American's Division of Higher Education and Schools, Wisconsin Lutheran Social Services, and a Fund for Women.