COLUMBUS, OH - Sam Speck, director of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR), has been elected to a two-year term as chairman of the board of the Great Lakes Commission, an international agency of states and provinces promoting the wise development, use and conservation of resources in the Great Lakes basin and St. Lawrence River.
Delegates representing governments of the eight Great Lakes states and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec voted unanimously to elect Speck as chairman at the commissions annual meeting, held recently in Cleveland.
Speck was named by Governor Bob Taft in 1999 to head Ohios delegation to the Great Lakes Commission and was elected vice-chairman of the commissions board in 2000. Currently, he also chairs the water management working group of the Council of Great Lakes Governors.
This is a very exciting point in history for the Great Lakes Commission, given the issues and challenges we face, Speck said. It is a great privilege to be elected chair at a time when so much can be accomplished.
Speck said the Commission has been presented with a number of significant opportunities: ongoing efforts to develop a framework to manage water use, as called for in Annex 2001 of the Great Lakes Charter; the challenge of battling aquatic invasive species through reauthorization and implementation of the National Invasive Species Act; and working with the Council of Great Lakes Governors and other parties to frame, develop a national program to address, and advocate for a comprehensive set of priorities to restore and protect the Great Lakes.
Appointed by Governor Taft as director of ODNR in February 1999, Speck had been president of Muskingum College since 1988. Prior to that he was an associate director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) under President Ronald Reagan.
Speck served in the Ohio General Assembly for 13 years, representing eastern and southeastern Ohio constituencies as a state representative (1971-76) and state senator (1977-83).