Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director Teresa Marks will retire on Sept. 30, the agency said Wednesday.
Gov. Mike Beebe appointed Marks in 2007 to head the state environmental regulatory agency, which has about 400 employees.
“I have been so fortunate and I will always be grateful to Governor Beebe for allowing me this opportunity,” Marks stated in an ADEQ news release. “I’ve worked with a wonderful and dedicated staff that strives each and every day to protect the environment and make Arkansas a better place to live and work.”
Marks said she looks forward to traveling with her husband this fall before deciding on her next career step.
“Whether working to protect our environment or our consumers, Teresa has spent her career providing dedicated service to Arkansas,” Beebe said. “She was one of the first appointments I made in my administration, and she will leave a team in charge at ADEQ that is well prepared to continue her fair and measured approach to the job.”
Ryan Benefield, ADEQ deputy director, will serve as interim director for the remainder of Beebe’s term, the agency said. Term limits prohibited Beebe from seeking a third term, and he will leave office in January.
ADEQ said Tammera Harrelson, currently chief of its legal division, will become interim deputy director.
Before being appointed ADEQ director, Marks served in the attorney general’s office as Public Protection Department deputy attorney general, where she supervised lawyers and support staff in representing the interests of consumers and state agencies in consumer protection, antitrust, utilities and environmental matters.
A graduate of the University of Arkansas at Monticello, Marks also worked as a high school teacher and as a deputy prosecuting attorney with the Pulaski County prosecuting attorney’s office. She briefly worked as a lawyer in private practice before joining the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Bowen School of Law faculty in 1990.
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