DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty this week announced the appointment of Patrick McDonnell as Director of DEP’s Policy Office. McDonnell replaces John Dernbach who has returned to Widener University School of Law to continue his tenured professorship.

Most recently, McDonnell assisted DEP’s Special Deputy Secretary and was responsible for coordinating the review of the department's regulatory revision initiative. In this position, he also provided support to the Governor's Growing Greener II initiative, coordinated the negotiation of the Commonwealth's Performance Partnership with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and participated in the development of the department's performance measures.

Previously, McDonnell directed the Bureau of Environmental Sustainability. Before this, he served as Executive Assistant in the Department's Office of Pollution Prevention and Compliance Assistance where he began as a Program Analyst. He is a former Pennsylvania Management Associate.

Patrick earned his bachelor's degree in Politics from DeSales University and his master's degree in Political Science from Lehigh University.

1/13/2006