board members

The Good Dads Executive Board was formed in 2015. Board members meet monthly at the Good Dads headquarters in Springfield, Missouri, and virtually. The board is comprised of business leaders, educators, healthcare professionals and faith leaders who all have stake in supporting engaged fatherhood.

Dr. Jennifer Baker is a licensed clinical psychologist and marriage and family therapist. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Good Dads, a non-profit focused on helping fathers be more engaged with their children. From 2003-2011 she provided leadership for two large federal grants serving persons living in 29 counties in southwest Missouri. In 2018, she was recognized as Entrepreneur of the Year by Springfield Business Journal. Dr. Baker also served as an associate professor in marriage and family therapy and as the Director of the Murney Clinic, a community mental health clinic, in Springfield.

Clayton Brown leads Marketing, Advertising, PR and Special Events for Prime Inc., one of the nation’s largest trucking companies based out of Springfield, MO.   In March of 2018 he helped develop the Prime Good Dads program, which connects dads and their kids with practical, day-to-day strategies and activities that help truck driving dads stay connected to their kids.  Clayton is married with five children and is also a board member of Ozarks Food Harvest.  

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Dennis, his wife and two children live in Springfield and works for Prime Trucking.  He takes pride in being the best husband and father possible.  

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Mike Dawson is the proud father of three children: Emma, Jack and Christian. Mike and Wendy are college sweethearts and following a life motto of, "see a need, fill a need".  Mike has been a public school educator for over 25 years and currently serves as the Executive Director of Instructional Services for the Branson School District. Mike's passion is to create school structures and systems to ensure all students can succeed. He is honored to partner with Good Dads as a way to promote parent engagement within schools throughout the region. Mike earned his doctorate degree from the University of Arkansas.

Before beginning his Real Estate career in 2006, Phil Grafft's career of 28 years was in public education. He first worked with elementary-age special-needs children, then secondary special-needs children, and finally, spent five years teaching sixth grade social studies. Phil also served as a coach and official in secondary-level sports activities. He saw first-hand the critical and importnat positive impact on children whose fathers were actively engaged with their schooling and other activities.

Marlon Re’Sean Graves, is the driving force behind TMP Professional LLC.  Adult Mentoring & Tutoring program advocating against low Adult Literacy and Professional Development. Marlon is also Vice President & Board Chair for (A Girl Like Me Network) a youth teenage girls empowerment program who service ages 11-19. They provide an empowerment platform through monthly empowerment table talks and seasonal bi-monthly mentorship workshops building self-esteem and self-reliant individuals. In fall 2021, Marlon became a Good Dads facilitator.

Marlon is a single divorced father of four beautiful kids names Rennel, Maciah, Zoe’ and Roman. He is also Associate Minister for New Hope International Ministries under Pastor Lamarr P. Jamerson Sr.

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Robert and his wife have three boys and four grandchildren, whom are the highlights of their lives.  In business, Robert runs cattle operations of the Beefmaster breed and works in real estate construction and management.

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Sally Herman is a retired registered nurse, licensed minister with the Assemblies of God and a certified Faith Community Nurse. She began her career as a 1st Lt in the Army Nurse Corps and later worked in a variety of nursing positions including intensive care, home health administration and in-home care. More recently, she was the Faith Community Nurse for City Church in Charlottesville, VA, and a volunteer chaplain at Cox Medical Center. Sally and her husband, Harvey, have been married for 50 years and have been involved in Chi Alpha Campus Ministry for most of their marriage. They haave two children and five grandchildren. Sally's participation with Good Dads began in 2019 when she began serving as a facilitator with the Fatherhood Development and Within My Reach curricula. She is inspired and honored to see lives change as a result of the Good Dads program. Sally has also helped to train new facilitators for Good Dads. Besides enjoying time with her family, Sally loves long walks, reading and quilting.

Benjy is a retired physician after practicing medicine for 40 years. He specialized in anesthesiology and pain management. Over the years Dr. Lampert has witnessed first-hand how the lack of constructive parental influence has worsened health and magnified pain problems as children become adults. Dr. Lampert sees the programs of Good Dads as an important way to improve family relationships that in turn will benefit all of society.

Brian is the father of two and married to his wife Jessica for 13 years. A firm believer in the power of strong families, he is excited to serve on the Good Dads board.  He is on the staff at The Downtown Church.  

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Nathan is thankful he grew up with an active father.  After serving in the Air Force as a communications officer, he came back to Springfield to work in the family business, Arctic Food Equipment.  Nathan is married and has 2 children.

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Crystal is a mother of a blended family, one daughter and two boys. She is a partner with Pinnacle Consulting CPAs.  She and her husband believe in raising their children to value honesty and find balance in life.

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Wayne is the father of two beautiful daughters. He considers this his most rewarding and life-changing experience thus far. Knowing that he and his wife are helping to mold young minds has changed his perspective on life.

He is the General Manager of Group One Inc., an asset-based, specialized logistics, and commercial drive away company. Wayne has a passion and love for growing and developing people.

Wayne says, "Being a great role model for our future is very important to me. I have worked with a number of non-profit organizations in the past in an effort to give back. The Good Dads organization is something I truly believe in. I am excited to do all that I can to support the organization in anyway I can."

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Scott is blessed to be the father of three awesome and energetic boys. He strives to show his boys unconditional love and the value of integrity and hard work. Scott is an attorney and the managing member of Rooney McBride & Smith, LLC. Scott focuses his practice on family law, business law, mediation and litigation. He is actively involved in the Springfield community and is a member of Second Baptist Church. Scott serves on the Board of Directors for the following organizations: the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame, the Price Cutter Charity Championship, the Springfield Metropolitan Bar Association, Highland Springs Country Club, and the Greater Ozarks Chapter of the Mizzou Alumni Association. Outside of the practice of law, Scott enjoys spending time with his family, playing golf and cheering on the Missouri Tigers.

Jim is a self-proclaimed serial entrepreneur.  He has started and grown a number of businesses in the Springfield area – United Roofing Supply, Steelman Transportation.  He is now “retired” and developing a resort, Table Rock Shore, in Kimberling City.  Jim is married with two grown sons.

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Of all the job titles Frank Tristan has held, husband and father have been his favorite.  Frank has been married to Natalie for 14 years, and together they are navigating the parenting of two tweens, Hays and Taylor. 

Frank has been in education for 19 years, and after various coaching stops across the country, he is currently a football coach and teacher at Willard High School.  On Sunday mornings you can find him teaching Sunday School in the 4-year-old class at Connect Church.

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Michael is the financial advisor and Vice-President of Pinnacle Family Advisors. He is married and has two daughters.  He believes dads can change their neighborhood, their city and their country when they realize the impact they can have on their children.

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Dr. Christopher M. Ward is a licensed psychologist in the state of Missouri and specializes in providing individual, couple, and family therapy. He has worked in a variety of settings including private practice, psychiatric outpatient clinics, university counseling centers, and currently works at Ozarks Community Hospital Evergreen Clinic as an outpatient therapist. I have lived in Nixa, MO with my family since 2008 with two of those years spent outside the state for internship (University of Idaho) and residency (Arizona State University). He enjoys spending time with his family, enjoying the outdoors, and pursuing a variety of hobbies and interest.

Joshua lives in Nixa, Missouri with his wife and three boys. He is the owner of a small planning, investment, and insurance practice in Springfield. Joshua joined the board of Good Dads in 2017 after attending one of their events and hearing about the startling statistics related to children growing up in fatherless homes. He believes in the work that Good Dads is doing and is proud to be involved with an organization that is making a difference in the lives of Missouri families.