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DNR Executive Staff Appointments Made

Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco has appointed the following people to positions at the Louisiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR). She and DNR Secretary Scott A. Angelle recently met with the group to discuss some of the agency goals and policies.

James "Randy" Hanchey has been named Deputy Secretary.

Robert D. Harper, Undersecretary

James "Jim" Welsh, Commissioner of Conservation/Assistant Secretary of the Office of Conservation

Gus C. Rodemacher, Assistant Secretary of the Office of Mineral Resources/State Mineral Board Secretary

Monique M. Edwards, Executive Counsel to the Secretary

Phyllis Folse Darensbourg, Communications Director/Press Secretary

Hanchey was formerly the department's head of the Office of Coastal Restoration and Management. He is a civil engineer with degrees from the University of Southwestern Louisiana and Tulane University. Hanchey worked with the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers for over twenty years before retiring in 1998 and joining DNR.

Harper has served as Undersecretary at DNR during the previous administration. He has served the department for twelve years. He received his political science degree from Louisiana State University.

Commissioner Welsh is a geologist and is a graduate of Louisiana State University. Welsh has 38 years of career public service with the department.

Rodemacher has over 12 years of state service with DNR and is an accounting and finance graduate of the University of Southwestern Louisiana.

Monique M. Edwards is an attorney formerly with the Louisiana House of Representatives, Natural Resources Committee. She previously worked in business law and governmental relations for Edwards, Valdez and Ellis, LLC of Orlando, FL. She is a graduate of St. Mary's Dominican College of New Orleans and received a juris doctorate from Southern University Law Center.

Darensbourg has nine years of career service to the department. She has worked some eighteen years in the public relations field for both local and state government. She is a journalism and history graduate of Northwestern State University.

Editors: For more information, contact the DNR Public Information Office at 225-342-8955.