Secretary Ellen Ferretti

 

Ellen Ferretti was nominated by Gov. Tom Corbett to serve as secretary on Sept. 20, 2013. The Senate approved of her appointment as secretary on Dec. 10, 2013. Prior to her appointment as secretary, Ferretti had been serving as deputy for parks and forestry since June 2011. In this role, she was responsible for managing and directing the operations of the bureaus of state parks; forestry; and facility, design and construction.

Ferretti served on Governor-elect Tom Corbett’s Transition Team, as a member of the Energy and Environment Committee.

Ferretti came to DCNR from the Pennsylvania Environmental Council where she served as the vice president of PEC’s Northeast Regional Office. In this capacity, she was responsible for managing staff, grant programs, budgets and working with regional DCNR staff and others to implement a variety of conservation landscape projects and programs in cooperation with local communities and groups.

Ferretti also served as director of environmental resources at Borton-Lawson Engineering, responsible for client development, marketing and team member coordination for all work related to environmental and hazardous material assessments, permitting, park and trail master planning, and land use planning .

Other experiences include working as a land protection specialist for The Nature Conservancy, vice president of ARRIS Engineering Group, Inc., project manager/environmental scientist at America Resource Consultants, and a project manager at Westinghouse Environmental and Geotechnical Services, Inc. Ferretti has been extensively involved in projects and programs to advance conservation initiatives in Northeastern Pennsylvania including the Luzerne-Lackawanna County Brownfield/Greyfield Development Opportunities Task Force; Luzerne-Lackawanna Bi-County Open Space, Greenway and Outdoor Recreation Master Plan; Wyoming Valley Watershed Coalition; water, recreation and wellness trails planning and development; land use studies; and rivers conservation plans. Ferretti was a member of the DCNR Citizen’s Advisory Council from 2008 until her appointment at DCNR.

Ferretti is a graduate of Wilkes College, where she earned a bachelor of science degree in environmental science/biology.