Last week, Illinois Governor Pritzker announced that John Kim will serve as director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency. He had previously served the Agency in many capacities under both Democratic and Republican administrations, including as director and interim director. Kim is seen as a solid pick who gets along with both environmental citizens’ groups and industry groups.
According to the press release from Gov. Pritzker’s office: “Kim has served in many senior roles during his distinguished 25 years at the department under five governors of both parties. He currently serves as chief legal counsel, where he supervises a legal staff of approximately 40 employees. Kim previously served as director, interim director, ethics officer, deputy general counsel, assistant counsel/special assistant attorney general, and project manager for an IEPA-China pollution prevention project. Kim left the IEPA for just over a year to serve as acting general counsel of the Illinois Department of Agriculture in 2008 and 2009. Before joining IEPA, Kim was an Assistant Attorney General of Illinois and was the general counsel to the Midwest Environmental Enforcement Association. He received his Juris Doctor from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and his Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.”