Movers & Shakers

Movers

Jim Barrett joins the Department of Energy’s Loan Programs Office as a senior consultant. In his role, Barrett will identify and provide financial support to innovative projects that advance clean energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The National Park Service announces Brandon Bies as deputy superintendent of Acadia National Park and the St. Croix Island International Historic Site in Maine. Bies was most recently superintendent of Manassas National Battlefield Park in Virginia.

Angela Coleman will now serve as associate chief for the Forest Service. She arrives with more than 30 years of leadership experience at the agency.

Jennifer Eberlien has been named regional forester for the Pacific Southwest Region, overseeing California, Hawaii, and U.S.-affiliated Pacific islands. Eberlien previously served as associate deputy chief for the national forest system.

Hilary Harp Falk takes the helm as president and CEO of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. She most recently worked for more than a decade at the National Wildlife Federation.

Joaquin Gallegos has been appointed special assistant to Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Bryan Newland at the Interior. Gallegos previously worked as a staff attorney for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.

Adaptation Leader LLC, a climate adaptation consultancy, welcomes Nina Luzzatto Gardner as strategic advisor. She is the director and founder of Strategy International, a corporate sustainability and environmental, social, and governance risk advisory firm.

The Biden administration has tapped Patrick Gonzalez as assistant director for climate and biodiversity at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. Gonzalez arrives with more than a decade of experience at the National Park Service and is an adjunct professor at the University of California, Berkeley.

DOE welcomes Betony Jones as senior adviser on workforce at the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Jones is the founder of Inclusive Economics, a consulting firm focused on labor, climate, and equity issues.

Josh Kaplowitz joins federal advocacy group American Clean Power Association as vice president of offshore wind. He was formerly an attorney at the Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.

Elin Katz will now lead FERC’s Office of Public Participation as the first director of the new division. She arrives from Tilson Technology Management.

Wizipan Little Elk joins the Interior as principal deputy assistant secretary for Indian affairs. Little Elk was most recently CEO of the Redco ecosystem of organizations, the economic development arm of the Sicangu Oyate tribe in South Dakota, of which he is a member.

The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy has named Kate Dargan Marquis as assistant director for disaster preparedness and response. Marquis was formerly California’s fire marshal.

Nora Moraga-Lewy joins Conservation International as manager of peace and conflict resolution. She most recently served as manager of the Rainforest Journalism Fund at the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, and is a former ELI research associate.

Laura Morton will now serve as partner in the environment, energy, and resources practice at Perkins Coie LLP. Morton arrives from her previous role as senior director of policy and regulatory affairs for offshore wind at American Clean Power.

Adam Ortiz has been tapped as administrator of EPA Region 3, which oversees the mid-Atlantic states. Ortiz was previously director of the Montgomery County, MD, Department of Environmental Protection.

VanNess Feldman LLP announces Mosby Perrow as partner in the firm’s Washington, D.C., office. Perrow was most recently vice president and deputy general counsel at the energy infrastructure firm Kinder Morgan.

The Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs welcomes Read Porter as deputy general counsel. Porter previously held positions at Roger Williams University School of Law’s Marine Affairs Institute and at ELI.

The Senate has confirmed Jeffrey Prieto as general counsel for EPA. He previously served as general counsel at USDA and DOJ’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention has tapped Jennie Romer as deputy assistant administrator for pollution prevention. Romer arrives from the Surfrider Foundation, where she worked on plastic pollution as a legal associate.

The Center for Biological Diversity welcomes Jason Rylander to its Climate Law Institute. Rylander moves from his former position as senior endangered species counsel at Defenders of Wildlife.

Debra Shore will now lead EPA’s Region 5 office, which regulates six states in the Midwest. She arrives from a post as commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Ariana Spawn moves in as environment and climate policy advisor to Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ). She was formerly federal policy manager at Oceana.

Tracy Stone-Manning takes the lead as director of the Bureau of Land Management. She previously served as associate vice president for public lands at the National Wildlife Federation.

The Senate has confirmed Tom Udall as ambassador to New Zealand and Samoa. Udall is a former ELI board member and Democratic senator to New Mexico.

Andrew Varcoe joins the U.S. Chamber of Commerce as deputy chief counsel at the U.S. Chamber Litigation Center. He most recently served as associate counsel and special assistant to the president in the White House Counsel’s Office, where he focused on environmental matters.

Shakers

Four ELI staff and affiliates have been elected 2021 fellows of the American College of Environmental Lawyers: Senior Attorney Linda Breggin, board member Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming, and former board members Ann Carlson and Carlton Waterhouse.

Michelle Diffenderfer will now lead the American Bar Association Section of Environment, Energy, and Resources as chair. She currently serves as president of Lewis, Longman & Walker, P.A.

E. Lynn Grayson takes the helm as president of the Chicago Bar Association. She is a partner with Nijman Franzetti LLP, a Chicago-based boutique environmental law firm. She is also a member of the ELI board.

Savoy Magazine has named Ben Wilson, chair of ELI’s board of directors and chairman of Beveridge & Diamond, as one of their Most Influential Black Corporate Directors for 2021. Wilson was previously recognized in 2016 and 2017.

In Memoriam

Sherwood Boehlert, Congressman and ELI board member, passed away on September 21 at 84 years old. Boehlert represented a central New York district in the House from 1983 to 2007, and chaired the Science Committee from 2001 to 2006. Throughout his term, he championed environmental legislation, including the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act to reduce coal-fired power plant pollution. Boehlert identified as a progressive Republican and advocated against climate skepticism. Prior to his tenure in the House, Boehlert served in the Army and was elected Oneida County executive. In 2002, he received ELI’s annual Environmental Achievement Award.

Richard Pavlak, environmental litigation specialist, passed away on September 9 at 57 years old. He served as senior environmental project analyst at Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP. Pavlak was a primary author of the chapter on air quality in the Law of Environmental Protection, a treatise published by ELI and written by first-rate attorneys, environmental program administrators, and legal scholars. An expert on the Clean Air Act, Pavlak also held extensive experience in CERCLA and RCRA litigation matters. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Allegheny College.