Board of Directors
Julius Wall
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Wall grew up on a farm in Johnson County, Missouri, entered the army and served a tour of duty in Korea before enrolling in law school at the University of Missouri. He is a partner of Poague, Wall, Cox & Adams, L.L.C. of Clinton, Missouri. An avid waterfowl hunter, Mr. Wall became a member of Ducks Unlimited in 1974 and went on to serve as president of Ducks Unlimited, Inc. and Ducks Unlimited Mexico, and also served on the boards of Ducks Unlimited Canada and Wetlands America Trust. He is the co-owner of several farms that are managed for waterfowl, deer, turkey and quail, as well as for crops and conservation practices. “My hope and much of my work as a volunteer,” said Mr. Wall, “has been to try to ensure that our children and grandchildren would have the opportunity to share the same experiences in the fields and lakes that I have had over the past six decades.”
Chris Nattinger
President
Rasied in Clinton, Missouri, Mr. Nattinger is a lifelong hunter and angler, with interests in shooting, gun collecting, game preservation and land management. In 1964, he graduated from Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri earning a degree in business administration. Mr. Nattinger was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army and entered into active duty in November 1964, serving until November 1966. He served the last year in Viet Nam, achieving the rank of First Lieutenant. Following his military duties, he entered his family's concrete products and building materials business in December 1966 and continued in that industry until January 2000. Mr. Nattinger is currently operating as an independent investor.
Dave Murphy
Vice President
Mr. Murphy has been the executive director of the Conservation Federation of Missouri since 2003. Previously, he worked for 10 years as the senior regional director and regional field supervisor for the National Wild Turkey Federation. Mr. Murphy is originally from northeastern Missouri, where he developed a love of the outdoors through hunting, fishing and trapping, and a passion for natural history and conservation. He earned bachelor’s (1976) and master’s degrees (1983) in forestry, fisheries and wildlife from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Earlier in his career, he worked as a wildlife researcher for the Missouri Department of Conservation, and as a teacher for the Columbia Public Schools at the Center for Gifted Education.
Jeff Churan
Secretary
Mr. Churan, of Chillicothe, holds a degree in civil engineering and is the chairman of Irvinbilt, a general contracting company. He also owns four farms totaling 1,700 acres. Mr. Churan is a hunter and ardent wildlife conservationist who has served in a leadership capacity with numerous conservation organizations. He is a former Missouri Conservation Commissioner and was twice Commission Chair; he is a former president of the Missouri Conservation Heritage Foundation, past member and chair of the University of Missouri School of Natural Resources Advisory Council, and former member of the board of directors of Ducks Unlimited, Inc., Ducks Unlimited Canada and Ducks Unlimited De Mexico, AC, among his many appointments. He is currently a member of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Quail Unlimited and the Missouri Conservation Department Quail and Grassland Bird Leadership Council. Among his many awards, he was named Outdoorsman of the Year by Budweiser in 1997 and the Quail Unlimited/Budweiser Landowner of the Year in 2006.
David Reynolds
Treasurer
Mr. Reynolds holds a master’s degree in industrial safety and is a Certified Safety Professional. After 34 years in the safety profession, he retired to pursue other interests. He and his wife of 34 years live in Springfield, Missouri. Living in this area gives him the opportunity to pursue his passions for the outdoors, including hunting, fishing, camping, canoeing and mushroom hunting. In 1999, he and his wife led an initiative to purchase 340 acres at Cedar Gap, which they donated to the Missouri Department of Conservation through the Foundation. The couple are also Lutheran Missionaries, organizing teams to travel to Brazil annually to build churches. Mr. Reynolds has also served on the Board of Directors for the Ozarks Regional Land Trust.
Stephen Bradford 
A former Conservation Commissioner, Mr. Bradford has a lifelong interest and participation in conservation efforts and outdoor activities. For 38 years, he has worked in the public and private sectors specializing in financial management and business development. He served in leadership roles for five Missouri governors and served as Commissioner of Administration for both Democratic and Republican governors. As a Conservation Commissioner—appointed in 2000—Mr. Bradford worked to improve departmental financial management and to increase and improve Missouri's trout and quail populations. He currently operates Missouri's largest home health services company and runs several farming operations. Among his many honors and recognitions, Mr. Bradford is a Conservation Federation of Missouri Life Member.
Andy Dalton
Mr. Dalton served as the Foundation’s first president from 1998 to 2003 and was instrumental in its formation. He was reappointed to the board in December 2008. A former Conservation Commissioner, Mr. Dalton served in that capacity from 1989 to 1995. He is now retired from the active practice of law but is “of counsel” to the Springfield law firm of Haden, Cowherd and Bullock LLC. From 1995 to 2007, Mr. Dalton served as general counsel for City Utilities of Springfield. He is a member of Ducks Unlimited, the Missouri Prairie Foundation and the Conservation Federation of Missouri, and serves as secretary of the Wonders of Wildlife Board of Directors in Springfield. Mr. Dalton also serves on the Foundation Board for Cox Health Systems, as secretary of the Missouri Supreme Court Historical Society and served as president of the Missouri United Methodist Foundation and as chairman of the Missouri Savings and Loan Commission.
Jan Horton
Ms. Horton has been active for nearly three decades promoting community development, the arts and environmental concerns in Springfield. She is president emeritus of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks and also served as executive director, president and CEO of that organization for 14 years. Prior to that, she worked as teleauction and underwriting coordinator at KOZK public television. Among her extensive contributions as a volunteer, Ms. Horton helped create the Junior League of Springfield and has served on the boards of the Springfield Arts Council, Springfield Chamber of Commerce, Leadership Springfield, Springfield Little Theater, Missouri Citizens for the Arts, National Audubon Society and Missouri Nature Conservancy. She also assisted in the formation of Ozarks Friends of the Environment. Among her many honors, she was named Springfieldian of the Year in 1998.
Cynthia Metcalfe
Ms. Metcalfe, of St. Louis, earned a degree in history and is a former IBM systems designer. She served as a Missouri Conservation Commissioner from 2001 to 2007. In addition to that appointment, Ms. Metcalfe has served on the University City Council, the St. Louis County Boundary Commission, Missouri Governors’ Task Forces on Education and Juvenile Delinquency, and the St. Louis Community Colleges tax campaign and Foundation Board. Currently, she is a member of a steering committee to develop a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Audubon project at the Riverlands Environmental Demonstration Area along the Mississippi River. Ms. Metcalfe's passion for nature stems from her childhood spent exploring rural St. Louis county; summers as a camper in Wisconsin and the Quetico wilderness; teaching youth camping, sailing and canoeing; weekends identifying wildflowers at a Franklin County family farm; backpacking and camping in the Rocky Mountains with her family; constant gardening; extensive cycling trips with her husband; and battling invasive species at their land in Warren County. “I want every child and adult in Missouri," she said, "to have the opportunity to experience and develop a reverence for our natural world, now and forever. "
Lowell Mohler
Mr. Mohler was born and raised on a farm near Oregon, Missouri, and is a 1958 graduate of the University of Missouri with a degree in agriculture. Following military service he worked for both the Kansas and Missouri Departments of Agriculture and then joined the Missouri Farm Bureau retiring as Chief Administrative Officer in 1996. He was awarded the Master Conservationist Award by the Department of Conservation in 2000 for his longtime efforts in bringing agriculture and conservation interests together. Lowell was appointed Missouri Director of Agriculture in 2001 and served until appointed a member of the Missouri Conservation Commission in 2003. He was a strong supporter of youth programs, wetland expansion and habitat development during his years on the Commission and continues those same interests today. Mr. Mohler is a longtime member of Ducks Unlimited, the Conservation Federation and the National Rifle Association and enjoys hunting and fishing whenever possible. He continues to be active in the family farming operation on the Missouri river near Jefferson City and also farms in Holt County, Missouri.
Steve Mowry
Mr. Mowry, a partner of Von Erdmannsdorff, Mowry and Bartlett law firm of Kansas City, is a past president of the Missouri Prairie Foundation. During his term as president with that organization, he organized the Smithville Lake Prairie Revitalization Project in Clay County. He also began a Missouri chapter of the North American Grouse Partnership, and is a member of the National Wild Turkey Federation and Ducks Unlimited. In July 2009, Field and Stream magazine recognized Mr. Mowry as a "Hero of Conservation" for his prairie conservation and revitalization efforts in the Mystic Plains Conservation Opportunity Area in Adair and Sullivan Counties. Of his award, he is quick to praise public agency staff and private landowners for making prairie restoration a reality in northeastern Missouri. In addition to his conservation leadership efforts, Mr. Mowry also is the founding member and organizer of the Sarah McCoy Foundation, which provides educational opportunities to young people in Clinton, Buchanan and Andrew Counties.
Norm Stucky
Mr. Stucky served as president of the Foundation board of directors in 2008. During his one-year term as president, Mr. Stucky oversaw the development of a strategic plan to guide the work of the Foundation for the next several years. He had served as chief of the Missouri Department of Conservation’s Fisheries Division for seven years when he retired in 2003, after a 25-year career with the Department. Mr. Stucky has been a Foundation board member since 2005. He is the chair of the Stream Stewardship Trust Fund and provides leadership to expand the use of the Trust Fund by developers needing to fulfill their Clean Water Act mitigation obligations.
Ann Sullins
Ms. Sullins, of St. Louis, grew up in a hunting and fishing family in West Plains, Missouri. Her lifelong love of the outdoors was nurtured by the woods surrounding her childhood home, and the diverse wildlife and crystal clear streams of the Ozarks. Today, Ms. Sullins carries out her strong interest in conservation efforts through service on the Confluence Greenway Advisory Board and as chair of the Advisory Board for The Trust for Public Land – Missouri. Ms. Sullins joins the Foundation board with more than 20 years of experience in community affairs and public service. She is the former Vice President, Director of Community Relations for Commerce Bank, St. Louis, where she directed the corporate and foundation charitable giving efforts for eastern Missouri and central Illinois. Among her current civic roles, Ms. Sullins serves on the boards of the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Opera Theatre of St. Louis and is a board member of the Gateway Center for Giving. Previously she served nine years on the Clayton Board of Education where she was president for three years. She is a 2001 Woman of Achievement and is a graduate of Leadership of St. Louis.
Jim Wilson
Jim has been a biologist, educator and administrator for most of his life. Formerly with the Missouri Department of Conservation in endangered species, natural history and education, Jim helped develop and supervise natural history programs, nature centers and conservation education programs across the state.
In his current position as part of the Des Lee Collaborative Vision at UM-St. Louis, he works with Forest Park Forever to develop education programs to connect people to nature in the 1,200-acre urban park and the greater St. Louis region.
Jim has recently served on the boards of directors for the Open Space Council of Greater St. Louis and the Discovery Expedition of St. Charles, a group that researches, re-enacts and interprets the Lewis and Clark Expedition. He is currently a member of the boards of Audubon Missouri and the St. Louis Audubon Society, and cooperator with the Confluence Greenway, a confederation of interests supporting conservation, recreation and heritage activities around the confluence of the big rivers near St. Louis.
William F. “Chip” McGeehan
Ex-Officio
Mr. McGeehan, of Marshfield, Missouri, was appointed to the Conservation Commission by the Governor in 2005 and currently serves as chairman. He has a degree in wildlife and fisheries management from the University of Missouri–Columbia, and attended graduate courses in fisheries at Southwest Missouri State University. He is a businessman who owns and operates Buffalo View Ranch, and is an avid bowhunter and angler.
Robert L. Ziehmer
Ex-Officio
On January 15, 2010, Mr. Ziehmer assumed the duties of Director of the Missouri Department of Conservation, serving as the Department’s eighth Director since its formation in 1937. He believes that citizen input and involvement are critical to conservation. One of his top priorities as Director will be maintaining the citizen confidence and support that have made Missouri a national conservation leader.
A native of California, Missouri, Mr. Ziehmer currently resides there with his wife and daughters. He began his Conservation Department career in 1991, and holds bachelor and master’s degrees in fish and wildlife management from the University of Missouri – Columbia.
