Dartmouth Events

Lecture Description:

Equally a student of process and policy, Tom Burack ‘82 envisions, builds, counsels, and supports collaborative leadership efforts within and spanning the governmental, non-profit and private sectors. The 2019 Perkins Bass Distinguished Visitor, Tom is a nationally recognized environmental thought-leader, attorney and consultant with the law firm of Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green. A Government major, he has served in all three branches: Congressional legislative staffer; Supreme Court of New Hampshire law clerk; and, Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. As NHDES Commissioner, he facilitated the creation of the Commissioners Group -- leaders of two dozen state departments who meet regularly to improve the operations of the state’s executive branch. Tom helped to usher New Hampshire into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and to steer the success of this first-in-the-nation, multi-state program to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants. Tom helped envision and launch, and now advises E-Enterprise for the Environment, a shared governance initiative of US EPA, states and tribes to modernize the business of environmental protection. Their children away at school, Tom and his wife officiate among three non-collaborative pets, two cats and a dog.

Speaker Bio:

Equally a student of process and policy, Tom Burack ‘82 envisions, builds, counsels, and supports collaborative leadership efforts within and spanning the governmental, non-profit and private sectors. The 2019 Perkins Bass Distinguished Visitor, Tom is a nationally recognized environmental thought-leader, attorney and consultant with the law firm of Sheehan Phinney Bass & Green. A Government major, he has served in all three branches: Congressional legislative staffer; Supreme Court of New Hampshire law clerk; and, Commissioner of the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services. As NHDES Commissioner, he facilitated the creation of the Commissioners Group -- leaders of two dozen state departments who meet regularly to improve the operations of the state’s executive branch. Tom helped to usher New Hampshire into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and to steer the success of this first-in-the-nation, multi-state program to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions from electric power plants. Tom helped envision and launch, and now advises E-Enterprise for the Environment, a shared governance initiative of US EPA, states and tribes to modernize the business of environmental protection. Their children away at school, Tom and his wife officiate among three non-collaborative pets, two cats and a dog.