Board of Directors
Stan Carlson, President
Stan Carlson is a native of Chicago, Illinois. After serving in the US Armed Forces, he completed his post graduate degree at the UW School of Banking. He retired in 2001 after a successful career as a Trust officer, financial advisor and investment portfolio manager. Mr. Carlson has been a Lion since 1968, and has held every club office and served as chairman of several committees. He has also volunteered with many other community groups. Stan is an avid outdoorsman and enjoys hunting, fishing, and flea markets. He and his wife Liz, who is also a Lion, have two children and three grandsons.
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Del Plank, Immediate Past President
Mr. Plank is a life-long dairy farmer recognized by WAXX radio as an outstanding agriculture leader. He is married to Sandra Polzin and is the father of three children, Travis, Cara Lee and Jenelle, and the grandfather of eight grandchildren. He has served as Lions District Governor from 1993-94 and was among nine governors who received the Governor of Excellence Award. He received 100% Presidents’ Award twice and 100% Secretary Award once as well as the International Certificate of Achievement, International Leadership Award, and International Presidents Award. Mr. Plank served as Multiple District 27 Leadership co-chair and served on the Host Committee for the Canada/US forum when it was held in Milwaukee. His hobbies include spending time with family, fishing, and bowling on a team for over 40 years.
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Pete Cerniglia, First Vice President
A member of the Cross Plains Lions Club since 1978, with perfect attendance, Mr. Cerniglia has held many offices within the association. In addition to his Lion activities, Past Director Cerniglia is active in numerous professional and community organizations. He serves as an eye transporter for the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin.
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Terry Peters, Second Vice President
Linda Benjamin, Secretary
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Michael Tiber, Treasurer
Mr. Tiber is a retired Director of the Iowa County Department of Social Services and Past President of the Hodan Center & Wisconsin County Human Service Association. He is a member of the Dodgeville Lions Club since 1977 and has served as President and Secretary. He is a Melvin Jones Fellow and Knight of Sight recipient and has served as District Governor 1993-1994. Mr. Tiber is also a member of the Dodgeville Lioness club since 1995. He owns and operates Military Ridge Bicycle Repair since 1988. He is active in his church and other community activities. He is married to Lioness Carolyn and has three children and five grandchildren.
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Neal Barney, M.D., Medical Director
Dr. Barney is a graduate of the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine in Dayton. He completed his Ophthalmology residency in Detroit. Dr Barney joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin Dept. of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences in 1992. His clinical practice focus is the care of patients with ocular immunology and cornea and external eye diseases, and he serves as a reviewer for numerous journals. Dr. Barney has spoken nationally and internationally regarding his research.
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Chris Croasdale, M.D., Associate Medical Director
Dr. Croasdale is both a refractive surgeon and corneal transplant specialist. He shares his expertise as Assistant Clinical Professor and the Assistant Director of the Corneal Transplant and Refractive Surgery Fellowship program at the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Croasdale also has a passion for international public health and blindness prevention, and has served in Nigeria, Philippines and India.
Janice Burke, Ph.D.
Dr. Janice Burke is a Professor of Ophthalmology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee. She received her doctoral degree at the University of Massachusetts and conducted studies at the University of Washington and the University of Arizona before coming to Wisconsin in 1982. Her laboratory conducts research using human donor eye tissue obtained through the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin to study aging changes in the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Dr. Burke’s research complements genetic studies of macular degeneration done by others, which may help explain how genes and the passage of time work together to cause age-related vision loss.
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Barry Busby
Barry Busby is the coroner for Winnebago County, WI. Before becoming coroner, he spent 29 years with the Oshkosh Police Department, retiring as a sergeant. Busby is also a certified medical death investigator through St. Louis University.
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Paul Dorow
Lion Dorow is a retired Prudential Insurance representative who is interested in cars, fishing, hunting, antiques, golf, and the Lions Eye Bank. He and wife Rose Marie have two children and two grandchildren.
Rev. Dr. Doug Dowling, L.C.S.W.
Reverend Dowling is a chaplain and ordained Methodist minister who has been with the Mercy Health System since 1991. He has been Organ/Tissue Donation Program Coordinator there since 1999. Dr. Dowling has spoken on the topics of healing, ethics, advanced directives, and the spirituality of tissue and organ donation all over the state of Wisconsin. He has been on the Board of the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin since 2004.
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Sue Habrat
Sue Habrat, RN, MS, CCRN is a Cardiac Clinical Nurse Specialist who combines thirty-plus years of clinical expertise, critical thinking skills and research to assist staff in providing excellent patient care. Sue has been a Lion since 1996 after she met her husband Dwaine on the Mission to Mexico project. Both are active within Lions and have most recently transferred to the Grand Rapids Lions Club. Sue finds her organ procurement experience in the healthcare environment an asset to serving as the C-1 Director to the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin.
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Jeff Hannafin
Mr. Hannafin of Altoona, WI, has a special interest in transplantation. As a kidney recipient, Jeff understands first-hand how important being an eye, tissue and organ donor is.
John Houck
Since beginning his career as a funeral director nearly 20 years ago, John has served several state and national groups, working to advance organ and tissue donation access and awareness within his profession. For several years, he was a volunteer enucleator for the LEBW. John is also an active volunteer in other community groups, as well as in his church. He is married with two children.
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Phil Ingwell
Phillip J. Ingwell is a retired educator in Human Resource Management. A life member of the Madison (Central) Lions Club with perfect attendance since 1967, Mr. Ingwell has held many positions within the association. In addition to his Lion activities, he is active in numerous professional and community organizations. He and wife Betty have two children and two grandchildren.
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Tom King, P.D.G.
Tom King is a Madison native who owns and manages properties in Madison, Stevens Point, and Marshfield. Retired from the U.S. Army Reserves and self-employed since 1972, Mr. King has volunteered with several youth organizations. He has been an Oxford Lion since 1994. Tom is married, and enjoys training horses.
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Steven Koenig, M.D.
Dr. Steven B. Koenig studied at Cornell University Medical College, and joined the faculty of the Eye Institute in 1983 following completion of specialized training in cornea and refractive surgery. He was promoted to Full Professor in 1988. His practice is limited to cataract, corneal and refractive surgery with a strong emphasis on laser vision correction, corneal transplantation, no-stitch corneal transplantation (DLEK), and no-stitch cataract surgery. Dr. Koenig has participated in the training of a number of his peers as one of the "Best Doctors in America."
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George McCann, M.D.
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T. Michael Nork, M.D.
Dr. Nork is an Associate Professor in the Department of Opthalmology and Visual Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research focuses on the mechanisms by which various ocular diseases affect the outer retina and how injury to the outer retina might, in turn, affect disease pathogenesis.
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Rick Reesman
For 32 years, Rick has been a driving force in the Lions organization, and he has been transporting donor eye tissue to Madison for transplantation for 22 of those years. Rick is the dispatcher for eleven men in the area who have volunteered to be transporters on a rotating basis. In 2005, he received the Burlington Area Chamber of Commerce Service Award. Rick is available to give talks about the Lions, the Lions Eye Bank of Wisconsin, and the eye tissue transplant program.
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Richard "Dick" Helbach
Mr. Helbach is a semi-retired excavating contractor who represents District 27B-2. He is a Melvin Jones Fellow and a member of the Waupaca Lions Club since 1975. He has held all club offices except for treasurer. He served as District Governor 2006-2007 and continues to serve as an Eye Transporter.
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Wayne Heiman
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Dick Hauser
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Eldon Vrieze
As a charter member, for 42 years Mr. Vrieze has been a member of the Rice Lake Lions Club in District 27-E1. He has served in a variety of capacities during that time including club president, secretary, treasurer, and member of the Board of Directors. On the district level he has served as a zone chair, a region chair and as vice district governor with these offices culminating in the position of District Governor and State Council Chairman 2003-2004. From 2005-2008 Mr. Vrieze served as a sector-coordinator for the Campaign Sight First II campaign. Mr. Vrieze has participated in a number of USA/Canada Forums, state Leadership workshops and two International Conventions. He has recently completed a four-year term with his local Thrivent board, the last year of which he was the president. Mr. Vrieze is a retired technology education teacher with 34 years in the Rice Lake School District. His wife Nancy is also an educator and is semi-retired from Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College in Rice Lake. The Vriezes have two married children who together with their spouses are all teachers who are very proud of their commitment to education and they cherish their four grandchildren.
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Mike Kelley
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Pauline Schiferl, R.N.
Mrs. Schiferl received her nursing education at St. Joseph’s School of Nursing, Marshfield, Wisconsin, and works at the Marshfield Clinic-Colby Abbotsford Center, in Colby, Wisconsin. She has been a Lion for 15 years. She has joined the medical mission (MHS) serving in the capacity as a nurse once a year for ten years. Pauline has joined her husband, Jim, also a Lion, on ten Lions Eye Glass missions to Mexico and chaired three Eye Glass missions to Honduras. She’s an active volunteer and singer at her church. She has been married for 44 years and is a mother of four and a grandmother of eight.
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