PA DEP Names Cosmo Servidio as New Southeast Regional Director

Longtime Director Joe Feola to Retire in July

HARRISBURG, Pa., April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Krancer announced today that Cosmo Servidio, a businessman and former chief of staff to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Region II administrator, will join the agency on April 9 and will become the agency's Southeast regional director when Joe Feola retires July 2.

"Cosmo has great experience in the public and private sectors and he brings a track record of creative problem solving of complex environmental regulatory and policy matters to us at DEP," Krancer said. "He is also very accomplished at working with all stakeholders in the process. We are delighted to welcome him to our team."

Servidio will work closely with Feola for the next three months.

"Even before I came to DEP, I had the pleasure of knowing and working with Joe for many years and he is terrific," Krancer said. "He has been a tremendous asset to DEP for many years at many levels."

In addition to his work at EPA, Servidio served in high-level roles with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, New Jersey Meadowlands Commission and the administration of former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. After his first stint in public service, he entered the private sector in government relations with State Street Partners, and he is now vice president of global insurance broker Willis Group Holdings North America in Morristown, NJ.

Feola has served the commonwealth for 43 years. He worked as regional director for 15 of his 41 years with DEP and prior to that, worked for the Department of Health and the Liquor Control Board.

During Feola's tenure as director, the region saw significant gains in protection of its waterways. Following a 2006 pollution incident caused by Merck and Co. that created a massive fish kill in the Wissahickon Creek, Feola directed $4.5 million in state settlement funds toward the protection of land within its highly urbanized watershed. That funding played a significant role in enabling the Whitemarsh Foundation to purchase approximately 100 acres of Erdenheim Farm in Montgomery County and prevent its development.

Also under Feola's direction, the region took part in cleaning up more than 1,400 brownfield sites, including contaminated riverfront properties in Bucks, Philadelphia, Montgomery and Delaware counties that were later developed. Former industrial sites along the Delaware River were given new lives as an industrial port complex in Falls Township; condos in Bristol; the Navy Yard and Sugarhouse Casino in Philadelphia; and a major-league soccer stadium in Chester. New Philadelphia Phillies' and Eagles' stadiums were also created from former brownfields under Feola's leadership.

The director of DEP's Southeast region manages the Waste Management, Air Quality, Radiation Protection, Environmental Cleanup and Brownfields Development, Clean Water, Safe Drinking Water, Waterways and Wetlands and Emergency Response programs for Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties.

Visit the Department of Environmental Protection online at www.dep.state.pa.us.

Media Contact: Katy Gresh, 717-787-1323

SOURCE Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection

WANT YOUR COMPANY'S NEWS FEATURED ON PRNEWSWIRE.COM?

440k+
Newsrooms &
Influencers

9k+
Digital Media
Outlets

270k+
Journalists
Opted In

GET STARTED