Environment & Natural Resources Section/Administrative & Regulatory Law Committee
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Allen Conger
Amec Foster Wheeler
Columbia, SC
Mr. Allen Conger received a B.S. in Natural Resources from the University of the South (Sewanee, Tennessee). He is a Professional Wetland Scientist (No. 011) and is certified in Habitat Evaluation Procedures. Mr. Conger lives in Ft. Motte, South Carolina with his two children. He works in Columbia for Amec Foster Wheeler Environment and Infrastructure, Inc. (Amec), an international Engineering consulting firm based in London with over 30,000 employees. Mr. Conger has worked for Amec for over 30 years and is currently a Senior Principal Scientist for the company. Mr. Conger manages Amec’s Water and Natural Resources Business Group. Mr. Conger manages industrial development projects for Amec throughout the Southeast. Amec provides geotechnical engineering, construction materials testing, and construction administration services for industrial projects in addition to a full suite of environmental services. Mr. Conger has extensive experience with remediation, power, government, and industrial projects throughout the United States. He has supervised or participated in energy projects involving the siting, permitting and regulatory compliance of natural gas pipeline, electric transmission, solar, geothermal exchange, wind, nuclear, hydroelectric, pumped storage, coal-fired, and combustion turbine projects.
Mr. Conger is a specialist in large facility siting, environmental permitting, mitigation, and NEPA. Recently he has been the environmental lead for the new Volvo facility near Charleston, BMW’s major expansion in Greer, and for CSX’s new Intermodal Facility in Rocky Mount. He has directed siting studies for BMW, Thyssen Krupp, Michelin North America, Bridgestone-Firestone, Department of Veterans Affairs, SCANA Corporation, Santee Cooper, Duke Energy, and others.
Chad N. Johnston
(Co-Course Planner)
Willoughby & Hoefer, P.A.
Columbia, SC
Chad Johnston is an attorney with Willoughby & Hoefer, P.A., in Columbia and has a general business and administrative litigation practice, encompassing the representation of water, sewer, and electric utilities, state and local governmental entities, corporate entities, as well as individual and institutional securities and investment mismanagement litigation. In addition to general litigation, Mr. Johnston’s practice extends across the spectrum of representation, from front-end environmental permitting, contract and economic development issues, to the handling of post-litigation appeals.
A native of Frankfort, Kentucky, Mr. Johnston holds a B.A. from Wofford College in French and Intercultural Studies for Business with German. Following Wofford, Mr. Johnston completed the joint JD/IMBA program (German Track) at the University of South Carolina School of Law and Moore School of Business.
Prior to joining Willoughby & Hoefer, Mr. Johnston served as law clerk to the Honorable Kaye G. Hearn, Justice of the Supreme Court of South Carolina, for three years, encompassing Justice Hearn’s final two years as Chief Judge of the South Carolina Court of Appeals and first year as a Justice on the Supreme Court.
Mr. Johnston is a member of the South Carolina and Richland County Bars. He is a past graduate of the Leadership Academy of the South Carolina Bar, is the current Chair-Elect of the Bar’s Environment and Natural Resources Section, and has been active in the Young Lawyers Division as past Chair of the Courthouse Keys Program. Outside of the legal world, Mr. Johnston is a graduate of Leadership Columbia, is a frequent participant and presenter with the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce’s Environmental Tech Committee, has been a longtime Board Member of the Palladium Society, an affiliate organization of the Historic Columbia Foundation, and is a member of the Columbia Rotary Club.
Jennifer Fletcher
South Carolina Department of Commerce
Columbia, SC
Jennifer Fletcher was promoted to Deputy Secretary of Commerce in January 2015. She previously served from 2011 to 2014 as Director of Global Business Development, responsible for managing the recruitment of new industry to the state and the growth of existing businesses in South Carolina.
Major wins for the state during her tenure at Commerce include deals with the top global tire manufacturers, including greenfield projects for Continental Tire and Giti Tire; the recruitment of top aerospace suppliers, including carbon fiber manufacturer Toray Industries; new corporate headquarters for LPL Financial and The Lash Group; and expansions by BMW, Boeing, GE and many more globally respected brands.
Jennifer brings nearly twenty years of economic development experience to Commerce. She came to Commerce from the Upstate SC Alliance, where she was executive vice president. During her time at the Upstate Alliance, Jennifer secured and administered more than $2 million in grant funding for the organization and championed the organization’s award-winning “I Was Blown Away” regional branding campaign.
Jennifer holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the University of South Carolina, and is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma. She is a 2006 graduate of Leadership South Carolina and is a member of the Board of Directors for the South Carolina Economic Developers Association.
Michael S. Traynham
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control
Columbia, SC
Michael is a 2004 graduate of the South Carolina Honors College and a 2007 graduate of the South Carolina School of Law. He has been with SCDHEC since 2014, working primarily with the Bureau of Water. Prior to his time with DHEC, he practiced in the areas of tax law, securities regulation, and insurance and government liability defense. Since joining SCDHEC, he has worked primarily with the Bureau of Water, advising and representing a number of programs within the Bureau including drinking water, wastewater permitting, and dam safety.
He is married with three daughters. Michael is also a board member with Sexual Trauma Services of the Midlands. He enjoys hiking, craft beer, science fiction (written or on screen, of both good and dubious quality), and spending time with his family.
Myra Reece
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control
Columbia, SC
Myra Reece serves as the director of Environmental Affairs, overseeing DHEC's Office of Environmental Quality Control and Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management. A member of the DHEC team for more than 30 years, Reece previously served as chief of the agency's Bureau of Air Quality. Before serving as Air Quality bureau chief, Reece served as director of DHEC's Environmental Quality Control District in Aiken.
Reece received a bachelor's degree in microbiology from Clemson University and a master's degree in public health with an emphasis on hazardous materials management from the University of South Carolina. She is also a graduate of the Management Academy for Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a graduate of the Southern Center of Excellence in Environmental Health at Emory University and has obtained professional certification as a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager. Reece is also serving on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Act Advisory Committee, making her the sole state representative from the southeastern states.
Nat Ball
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Charleston, SC
Nat Ball is a Regulatory Project Manager with the Charleston District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Since joining the Corps in August 2000, Mr. Ball has worked in the Enforcement Branch (3 years), the Permits Branch (3 years), and the Special Project Branch (10 years). Mr. Ball primarily works on complex permit applications and mitigation plans for port related activities. In addition, he oversees the preparation of Environmental Impact Statements for large infrastructure projects, such as the proposed Jasper Ocean Terminal. Mr. Ball is a past Chairman of the South Carolina Interagency Review Team for compensatory mitigation banks (2006-2014) and currently represents the Regulatory Division on the Charleston Harbor Deepening Study (Post-45).
Randolph R. (Randy) Lowell
Willoughby & Hoefer, P.A.
Charleston, SC
Randy Lowell is a Shareholder at Willoughby & Hoefer, P.A., and a native of Summerville, South Carolina. Randy received his undergraduate degree from the College of Charleston. He received master’s and law degrees from the University of South Carolina, a Master in National Security Studies from American Military University, a Master of Laws in Environmental Law from The George Washington University, where he was the Randolph C. Shaw Fellow. He has served on and chaired a number of national and state bar committees. He has served as an adjunct professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law and is a frequent author and lecturer on a number of legal issues.
Randy has been named a South Carolina Super Lawyer and to the Best Lawyers in America list and holds an AV Preeminent peer-reviewed rating by Martindale-Hubbell. He serves on the boards of the College of Charleston, S.C. Chamber of Commerce and South Carolina Humanities.
Robert D. “Bob” Perry
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources
Columbia, SC
Bob Perry is a native of Kershaw, South Carolina. Bob earned a B.S. in Biology from the University of South Carolina and a M.S. in Wildlife Biology from Clemson University. Bob was a member of the USC football team from 1969-72 as a scholarship-athlete and is a life member of the USC Lettermen’s Association; he attended graduate school at Clemson on a Duke Power Fellowship. Prior to graduate school, Bob spent 3 years as an ironworker, erecting high steel for electric power plants. He has been employed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DNR) for almost 38 years. During much of that time, Bob had responsibility for maintaining and managing coastal wetlands where agency emphasis is directed toward meeting the requirements for wintering and migrating waterfowl and other wetland dependent wildlife.
Bob has authored or co-authored a number of peer reviewed publications related to the importance of wetland habitats and science-based strategies for managing and protecting wetlands and related natural resources. While living on the coast, Bob also served as the coordinator for the Winyah Bay Focus Area Project, a partnership landscape conservation initiative identifying and protecting over 150,000 acres of critical habitats ensuring continued biological diversity in the rapidly developing upper coastal region of South Carolina. Presently, Bob is the Director of the Office of Environmental Programs of DNR. In this capacity he provides oversight of the agency environmental review and comment on permit and license applications involving action by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.
Bob is responsible for coordinating environmental issues with the agency director and DNR Board so that they mesh seamlessly with agency goals and objectives. He serves as the DNR Board’s Parliamentarian. Bob co-chairs the DNR Climate Change Impacts Technical Working Group and chairs the S.C. Geological Survey State-Map Committee. In addition, Bob represents DNR and the agency director on the S.C. Blue Ribbon Committee on Shoreline Management, the Savannah River Maritime Commission, the S.C. Ocean Energy Regulatory Task Force and the S.C. Mitigation Interagency Review Council.
In 1995 Bob received the Outstanding Achievement Award in Wildlife Management and in 2009 the Lifetime Achievement Award both from the S.C. Chapter of the Wildlife Society. In 2013 he was honored as the 2013 S.C. Wildlife Federation Conservationist of the Year for collaborative work on innovative mitigation strategies designed to meet landscape-scale conservation needs and provide public use opportunities, and in 2015 he was honored with DNR's highest recognition, the Meritorious Service Award for his work with stakeholders on the Boeing, Volvo and Charleston Harbor Deepening projects.
Bob and his wife, Patty and son, Phillip live in Columbia and are members of Shandon UMC. Bob’s hobbies include hunting, fishing, golf, cooking and woodworking.
Vito M. Wicevic
S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control
Columbia, SC
Vito Wicevic acts as Counsel for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control’s Division of Health Regulation. He advises the Bureau of Health Facilities Licensing, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, Bureau of Certification, Bureau of Radiological Health, and Bureau of Health Facility and Services Development. Additionally, he represents the Department before the Administrative Law Court, South Carolina Court of Appeals, and South Carolina Supreme Court.