Former Connecticut state environmental commissioner and senior corporate executive, Leslie Carothers has been elected as the Chair of the Environmental Law Institute’s Board of Directors for 2003. Carothers, formerly Vice President for Environment, Health and Safety for United Technologies Corporation and Commissioner of the state’s Department of Environmental Protection, also held senior legal positions with the US Environmental Protection Agency and PPG Industries.
Carothers has a strong legacy in environmental law and regulation. She began her career in environmental law serving with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 1971. After advancing to enforcement director and deputy regional administrator of EPA’s New England region, she moved onto the corporate sector as senior environmental counsel for PPG Industries. Carothers has taught at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies and chaired the Connecticut Audubon Society in addition to her service on the ELI Board. She now resides in Branford, CT.
In other elections, Ridgway M. Hall, Jr. (Partner, Crowell & Moring LLP) of Washington, DC and J. William Futrell (ELI) were re-elected to the posts of Secretary-Treasurer and President respectively.
Five new board members were elected to serve for an initial three-year term:
- Joseph L. Boren is the President and Chief Executive Officer of AIG Environmental, a wholly owned business of AIG International and the leading US provider of environmental insurance products and services.
- Carol A.Casazza Herman is an Assistant General Counsel and Senior Director of Corporate EH&S Legal, Pfizer, Inc., a leading global pharmaceutical company.
- Gail Charnley Elliott, PhD is a principal at HealthRisk Strategies and former executive director of the Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management.
- William M. Eichbaum is Vice President for the World Wildlife Fund’s Endangered Spaces Program and former senior state government official in Maryland and Massachusetts.
- Paul Hagen is a Principal at the law firm of Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. practicing in the areas of U.S. and international environmental law.