headshot of Melanie Loyzim

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, Maine

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.

Jeanne Lambrew

Jeanne M. Lambrew

Jeanne Lambrew has served as commissioner of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) since 2019. Prior to her appointment, Lambrew was a senior fellow at The Century Foundation and adjunct professor at the NYU Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She previously worked in both the Obama and Clinton administrations. She also was an associate professor at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs in Austin, Texas and the George Washington University School of Public Health. Lambrew was a senior fellow for health policy at the Center for American Progress. She received her master’s and doctoral degrees in health policy from the University of North Carolina and her bachelor’s degree from Amherst College.

David VanSlyke

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

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

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.