Brian Hill, President & CEO of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, is taking a new position with the Richard King Mellon Foundation as Program Officer effective May 5.

Hill became acting President of PEC in December 2005 and President in April 2006. Prior to that in 2004 and 2005 he worked as an executive policy specialist for Governor Rendell. He also served as senior vice president for watersheds for the Council and as director for the PEC French Creek Project based in Meadville, Pa.

During his tenure as president, Hill was instrumental in launching the Keystone Green Investment Strategy in the State Treasurer’s Office that invests state funds in developing green technologies and renewable energy sources, unveiled a unique stakeholder-driven Climate Change Roadmap for Pennsylvania and pushed legislation to create a climate change action plan for the state, promoted increased transit and transportation funding, opposed steps to divert environmental funding to other purposes, promoted innovative public-private partnerships to accomplish environmental objectives, helped develop and promote adoption of the Great Lakes Compact in Pennsylvania, pushed for a state program to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, encouraged the use of new tools like nutrient credit trading to reduce the cost of cleaning up streams and rivers and developed new venues for honoring organizations promoting environmental excellence.

Previously, Hill served as director of the Western Pennsylvania Office of PEC in Pittsburgh for six years developing a wide variety of environmental educational programs, including workshops and seminars on solid and hazardous waste management, the reuse of industrial sites, and land use policy in Pennsylvania.

Hill is a past chairman of the Citizens Advisory Council to the Department of Environmental Protection and has served as a member of the Environmental Quality Board. He received his B.S. in environmental science from Allegheny College and his M.S. in natural resource management from the University of New Hampshire.

4/11/2008