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Water Utility Council of the PA-Section, American Water WUC Works Association (PA-AWWA) GOVERNMENT RELATIONS UPDATE From Gmerek Government Relations, Inc. 212 Locust Street Suite 300 Harrisburg, PA 17101 Phone: 717-234-8525 Cell: 717-574-3963 Fax: 717-234-8812 Erik A. Ross, Senior Lobbyist www.ggrgov.com Harrisburg, PA [email protected] November 17, 2014 -- Issue 917 PA- Section, American Water Works Association National Association of Water Companies Water Works Operators' Association of Pennsylvania McGinty will become Chief of Staff following Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf Names Wolf's inauguration on January 20, 2015. Until Kathleen McGinty Incoming then, she will assist Gov.-elect Wolf as he builds his administration. Chief of Staff Since 2008, McGinty has been a leader in the n November 10, 2014, Gov.-elect Tom clean energy and environmental engineering space. Wolf announced Kathleen "Katie" McGinty She has led a global business cleaning up and O as incoming Chief of Staff in his redeveloping contaminated properties and administration. developing renewable energy, and she has served on the Boards of Directors of publicly traded and McGinty has more than twenty-five years' worth privately held corporations. of experience in public service. She has served in many capacities, including at the White House McGinty began her career in the office of then- during the Clinton Administration and as Senator Al Gore, where she worked on initiatives to Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental strengthen patent protections, encourage Protection Secretary. McGinty has also spent time manufacturing, and support science education. in the private sector. McGinty also contributed to the reauthorization of the landmark Clean Air Act. "Katie McGinty has broad experience in state and federal government and in the private sector," Following her time in Sen. Gore's office, said Gov.-elect Tom Wolf. "She will be an asset to McGinty served President Bill Clinton as his my administration and to the people of Deputy Assistant and then as Chair of the White Pennsylvania. In federal and state government, House Council on Environmental Quality -- the first Katie worked with diverse interests to achieve woman to head the office. In this capacity, McGinty meaningful change in difficult environments. Her worked with Republicans and Democrats to pass experience will help me work with Republicans and environmental legislation while spearheading a Democrats to move Pennsylvania forward." number of initiatives to redevelop brown fields, restore and preserve key ecosystems, and improve environmental protection. In 2003, McGinty was nominated by Governor established and still-emerging strengths to serve its Edward G. Rendell to become the first woman to students, its neighborhood, its city, and the nation. lead the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Drexel is setting a new standard for cooperative Protection, where she worked on clean water and education, investing in its research capacity and mercury reduction initiatives and encouraged job becoming a major force for economic development. growth in the energy sector, including solar and Fry previously was president of Franklin & wind jobs. Marshall College, where his leadership was instrumental in an unprecedented period of Source: Wolf Transition, 11/10/2014 academic growth, campus and neighborhood development, and improved finances. As executive vice president of the University of Pennsylvania, he Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf Names helped develop and implement Penn's "Agenda for Transition Team Leadership Excellence" and built a coalition to address challenges facing the University City neighborhood n November 13, 2014, Gov.-elect Tom in West Philadelphia. Wolf announced his Transition Team O leadership. John A. Fry, President of Drexel Mayor C. Kim Bracey - Transition Vice-Chair University, will serve as Transition Chair. Serving as Vice-Chairs will be York Mayor Kim Bracey, C. Kim Bracey was elected the first African- Community Leader Cindy Shapira, and Jim Brown, American Mayor of the City of York on November Sen. Robert Casey, Jr.'s Chief of Staff. Denise 3, 2009. As the City's chief executive officer, she is Smyler will serve as legal counsel to the steering responsible for all aspects of the general committee. Wolf also named the heads of the management of the City, including its $98 million Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization Task Force budget and the enforcement of all City laws and that will work to address the looming budget deficit. ordinances. Previously, Bracey was the appointed Mary Soderberg, former secretary of the budget, director of the Department of Community will serve as Chair and Josh Shapiro, Chairman of Development for the City of York from June 2003 the Montgomery County Commission, will serve as until January 2009 under Mayor John S. Brenner. Vice Chair. Jim Brown - Transition Vice-Chair "I am looking forward to working with a diverse group of leaders to move Pennsylvania forward," Jim Brown currently serves as Chief of Staff to said Gov.-elect Tom Wolf. "My Transition Team United States Senator Robert Casey, Jr. Brown leadership will help me address the major issues served as Chief of Staff to Pennsylvania Governor facing our commonwealth, and they will help make Robert Casey, Sr. from 1989 to 1994. Brown has Pennsylvania work for middle-class families." also served as Pennsylvania Secretary of General Services and was a partner at the law firm Dilworth "I'm honored to chair the Transition Steering Paxson, LLP. Brown was a founding partner of SCP Committee and work with so many outstanding Partners, a family of venture capital funds. He leaders to help Gov.-elect Wolf serve worked on Capitol Hill for five years as Staff Pennsylvanians effectively from day one of his Director and General Counsel for the Subcommittee administration," said Transition Chair John A. Fry. on Oversight of the Committee on Banking, Finance, and Urban Affairs in the U.S. House of John A. Fry - Transition Chair Representatives (now the Committee on Financial Services). John A. Fry, Drexel University's 14th president, has served in higher education for his entire Cynthia Shapira - Transition Vice-Chair professional life, as a consultant, board member, chief operating officer, and chief executive. Fry has Cynthia D. Shapira is a community activist at the positioned Drexel to become the "modern urban local, state, and national levels. She serves on the university of the future," harnessing both long- board of the Allegheny County Airport Authority 2 and chairs the Pennsylvania Center for Women in Montgomery County Commission Chairman Josh Politics at Chatham University. She also serves on Shapiro - Budget Deficit and Fiscal Stabilization the boards of Brandeis University, Point Park Task Force Vice Chair University, United Way of Allegheny County Pittsburgh Promise, WQED Pittsburgh, Vibrant Josh Shapiro was elected Montgomery County Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. Commissioner in 2011 and was elected Shapira is secretary of the Jewish Federations of unanimously to Chair the three-member Board on North America and the Jewish Federation of January 3, 2012. As the Commission Chairman, Greater Pittsburgh, as well as a commissioner of the Josh helped lead a dramatic turnaround in Pennsylvania Commission on Women. Previously, Montgomery County by eliminating a large budget Shapira was a management consultant for over deficit, reducing overall debt, and replenishing the twenty years in the non-profit and education sectors. County reserve fund. Prior to his election in She has an MPA from the Harvard University Montgomery County, Shapiro represented the 153rd Kennedy School of Government and a BA from Legislative District in the state House for seven Wellesley College. years. Before serving in the state legislature, Josh served as a Congressional staffer in Washington, Denise Smyler - Counsel to the Transition D.C. where at age 25 he became, at the time, the youngest person on Capitol Hill to serve as a Denise Joy Smyler is the founding attorney and Congressional Chief of Staff. owner of the Smyler Firm, which joined with Wadud Ahmad and Joseph Zaffarese to form Source: Wolf Transition, 11/13/2014 Ahmad, Zaffarese & Smyler, LLC in September 2013. Denise is a well-respected commercial litigator and public finance attorney who has 119 Strong House successfully represented municipalities, Republican Majority corporations, and government entities for over twenty years. Previously, Denise worked as an Chooses 2015-16 Leadership Assistant District Attorney and as Legal Counsel to the Philadelphia Prison Commissioner before being Team appointed Chief Legal Counsel to the Philadelphia Police Commissioner. he 119 members of the incoming Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus Mary Soderberg - Budget Deficit and Fiscal T today elected Rep. Mike Turzai (R- Stabilization Task Force Chair Allegheny County) as their choice for speaker of the House of Representatives and Rep. Dave Reed (R- Mary A. Soderberg is the former secretary of the Indiana County) as majority leader for the 2015-16 budget appointed by Governor Edward G. Rendell legislative session. and began serving in the position on July 7, 2008. Prior to her appointment as secretary of the budget, The November 12, 2014 caucus election comes Soderberg had served since August 2005 as eight days after Republicans increased their executive deputy secretary of the budget and chief majority from 111 members going into Election financial officer of the commonwealth.