Environment DEC
From the June 2007 issue
Commissioner Names Four New Regional Directors
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Pete Grannis recently announced the selection of four new regional directors. Suzanne Y. Mattei has been selected as regional director for DEC's Region 2 office, which serves the New York City boroughs of New York, Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island. William C. Janeway has been selected as regional director for DEC's Region 3 office, which serves the counties of Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester. Elizabeth Lowe has been selected as regional director of DEC Region 5, which includes Clinton, Essex, Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Saratoga, Warren and Washington counties. And Judy Drabicki has been selected as regional director of DEC Region 6, which includes St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida and Herkimer counties.
About Suzanne Mattei
Suzanne Mattei was most recently the New York City Executive of the Sierra Club (see "Related Off-site Links" below). While there, she led important initiatives including highlighting the health and environmental impacts of the World Trade Center terrorist attack, improving childhood lead poisoning prevention efforts, and protecting wetlands in Staten Island.
From 1998 to 2003, she was an Associate Counsel and Public Policy Director for the New York State Trial Lawyers Association. Ms. Mattei has also worked for the New York City Public Advocate as an Assistant Deputy Advocate for Research and Investigation, and for the New York City Comptroller as a Senior Environmental Advisor in the Office of Policy Management. While serving in both of these capacities, she developed valuable environmental experience focusing on issues including energy, wetland restoration, recycling and solid waste. Additionally, Ms. Mattei was the director for the Connecticut Fund for the Environment.
Ms. Mattei graduated from Washington State University with a Bachelor of Arts, Phi Beta Kappa, and received her law degree from Yale Law School.
William Janeway
About William Janeway
William Janeway currently serves as the Director of Government Relations for The Nature Conservancy in New York (see "Related Off-site Links" below). Since 1994, Mr. Janeway has been the Nature Conservancy's liaison in building government partnerships with government agencies on cooperative environmental conservation development projects across the state.
In the late 1990s, Mr. Janeway was the Executive Director of the Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission, where he helped raise $23 million to expand the Albany Pine Bush Preserve and advance conservation of the rare inland Pine Barrens. Following that role, he served as the Executive Director of the Hudson Valley Greenway Conservancy, where he focused on projects designed to conserve and interpret the environmental and historic heritage of the Hudson River Valley and the economic potential for the area. From 1985 to 1994, Mr. Janeway worked for the Adirondack Mountain Club. He began his professional career with the club as a trails coordinator and later served as its Director of North Country Operations. As director, he coordinated the funding of education projects, long-term planning, daily operations and the trails and wilderness programs.
Mr. Janeway graduated from St. Lawrence University, where he received his B.A. in Economics, concentrating on Environmental Studies.
About Elizabeth Lowe
Elizabeth Lowe
Elizabeth Lowe recently served as Managing Director and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks, also known as The Wild Center, in Tupper Lake (see "Related Off-site Links" below). Beginning in 1998, Ms. Lowe led the creation and development of museum, and ever since has been involved in the oversight of the its budget, design and contracting, staff recruitment, and program planning. In 2001, Ms. Lowe received the Adirondack Communicator of the Year award from the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board (see "Related Off-site Links" below).
Prior to starting The Wild Center, Ms. Lowe served for nearly 20 years with DEC, building an extensive background in environmental management, community development, public relations, and administrative policy. Her positions at DEC included Citizen Participation Specialist, Environmental Management Specialist, and Mined Land Reclamation Specialist. While at DEC, Ms. Lowe worked with diverse Adirondack regional interest groups and organizations on cooperative initiatives, including the Region 5 Open Space Conservation Advisory Committee recommendations.
Ms. Lowe graduated from Skidmore College, where she received her B.A. in Biology and Music, concentrating on the study of the mechanisms of plants, and received her Masters degree in Regional Planning from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. She has lived for the past 22 years in the Adirondacks, currently in Lake Placid, and has family ties to the region going back more than a century.
About Judy Drabicki
Judy Drabicki brings a wide-ranging knowledge about environmental issues, especially in the communities in by Region 6. The region encompasses some of the state's most diverse communities and unique natural resources, including half of the Adirondack Forest Preserve, the Tug Hill Plateau, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River, as well as urban areas in Utica and Rome. She is a seasoned attorney with decades of experience in working on the complex issues facing Adirondack and other North Country communities. Ms. Drabicki will work closely with Elizabeth Lowe, particularly on issues affecting the Adirondacks.
Ms. Drabicki served as DEC's Regional Attorney in Region 6 for 13 years, and subsequently in private practice with a focus on environmental matters. As a solo practitioner, Ms. Drabicki represented citizen's groups, municipalities, not-for-profit organizations, and individuals in environmental matters, including those involving the Adirondack Park Agency, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and DEC. Noteworthy were her efforts in assisting the Fort La Presentation Company of Ogdensburg in obtaining the satisfactory remediation of property owned by the Fort, which had been contaminated by Exxon-Mobil Corporation. From 1999 to 2000, Ms. Drabicki was an attorney at Rayhill Bankert and Rayhill in Utica where she concentrated on environmental and municipal law.
Prior to DEC, Ms. Drabicki was an attorney at Legal Services of Central New York, Inc. She graduated from Cornell University with a Bachelor of Science and received her law degree from Syracuse University.
For more information about DEC's regional offices, go to DEC's website.
Related Off-site Links
The Sierra Club
The Nature Conservancy
The Wild Center
Adirondack Park Agency
