Tom Wolf Adds Cabinet Picks at PennDOT, Environmental Protection

Gov.-elect Tom Wolf on Wednesday rolled out his choices to lead state agencies that build and maintain highways, protect the environment, run state parks and oversee government administration.

Three of them are veterans of state government, while the woman he wants to run PennDOT is a county commissioner in the Philadelphia suburbs.

Wolf, set to take the oath of office on Tuesday, announced Montgomery County Commissioner Leslie Richards was his selection at PennDOT, and the agency's current secretary will serve temporarily as a senior adviser on transportation and infrastructure matters.

Richards, 47, is a member of the board at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority and has overseen county transportation programs.

Wolf announced he will nominate John Quigley to be secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection, saying they plan to work to develop the state's natural gas industry with more transparency while protecting the environment.

"The key test and the key challenge I think is to find the balance between economic growth and all of the benefits that the shale gas boom offers Pennsylvania, and environmental protection and public health protection," Quigley said.

Quigley, 55, a former Hazleton mayor, was conservation and natural resources secretary from 2009 to 2011 under Gov. Ed Rendell.

Wolf chose Cindy Dunn to lead the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources and Sharon Minnich to take over at the helm of the Office of Administration.

Dunn, 56, has been a deputy secretary in that agency and currently heads PennFuture, an environmental advocacy group. She said the department can make "strategic investments" such as trails along rivers and on old rail lines, while also fostering the economic activity that is attached to the state's wild areas.

Minnich, 45, is the state government's former assistant chief information officer, and she has worked in the budget office, Revenue Department and General Services.

Richards, Quigley and Dunn will require Senate confirmation.

Wolf, a Democrat, defeated Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in November.