Melanie Loyzim
NEIWPCC Executive Committee Member
Melanie Loyzim serves as the commissioner of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (Maine DEP). She joined the agency since 2006, and has served in a variety of roles including underground tank inspector, air toxics and emissions inventory program manager, director of the Bureau of Air Quality and the Bureau of Remediation and Waste Management and most recently as deputy commissioner. Prior to her tenure at Maine DEP, she worked for Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment in their emissions inventory program and as a rule writer. She has experience as an environmental, health and safety consultant, a site health and safety officer, and 40-hour HAZWOPER trainer.
Brian Kavanah
Representative of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner at NEIWPCC Meetings of the Executive Committee and Commissioners
Brian Kavanah is director of the Bureau of Water Quality at the Maine Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). He previously served as the director of the Division of Water Quality Management, a position he had held since 2001. That division is responsible for all regulatory programs for point source wastewater discharges, and point source stormwater discharges. Kavanah has worked in the field of environmental protection for more than 32 years, holding a variety of positions with the Maine DEP and briefly with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in New York City.
Sara Gagné-Holmes
Sara Gagné-Holmes was appointed acting commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) in June 2024. In this role, she leads the largest agency in state government, which provides health care and social services to approximately a third of the state’s population, including children, families, older Mainers, and those with disabilities, mental health and substance use disorders. Gagné-Holmes previously served as a deputy commissioner of the department. Prior to joining the DHHS, she was a senior program associate with the John T. Gorman Foundation where she developed and implemented strategies across the Foundation’s priority areas. She was also the executive director of a statewide, nonprofit civil legal aid and advocacy organization, representing individuals with low income in the courts, before administrative agencies, and in the legislature. Gagné-Holmes graduated from Bowdoin College and from the University of Maine School of Law.
Amy Lachance
Amy Lachance is the Drinking Water Program manager for the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention, overseeing the regulation of public water systems as well as the state’s Subsurface Wastewater Program. She has served in this role since 2021, and previously worked for the states of Michigan and Massachusetts as a regulator of solid and hazardous waste, groundwater discharges, and drinking water. A Maine native, she holds a bachelor’s degree in geology from Dartmouth College, and a master’s degree in hydrogeology from Western Michigan University.
David Van Slyke
David Van Slyke is the managing partner at Preti Flaherty, one of Maine’s largest law firms, where he oversees all aspects of operations. He has been an environmental lawyer with the firm since 1991, and chairs the Environmental Practice Group. His work is primarily focused on compliance counseling, environmental audits, defense of enforcement actions, project permitting, and environmental risk management. Previously, Van Slyke was an environmental lawyer for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and participated at the highest levels of the agency’s compliance and policymaking efforts as acting associate enforcement counsel for Superfund and deputy associate enforcement counsel for hazardous waste. Van Slyke is a fellow of the American College of Environmental Lawyers. He has a bachelor’s in both chemistry and environmental science from St. Lawrence University, and a doctorate of law from Syracuse University College of Law.
Brian Tarbuck
Brian Tarbuck has served the Greater Augusta Utility District as general manager since 2007. He is a member of the Maine Board of Licensure of Water System Operators and a former president of the Maine Water Utilities Association. Tarbuck is a graduate of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Stacy Thompson
Stacy Thompson has been with the Saco Water Resource Recovery Department (WRRD) for 12 years, serving as deputy director for the past four years. Thompson oversees the daily operations for the treatment facility and the 29 pump stations located throughout the city. Thompson is a past president of the Maine Water Environment Association (MEWEA) and a former team member on the Operations Challenge Team Force Maine. Thompson has a bachelor’s degree from St. Joseph’s College.