ORSANCO Announces Appointment of Toby Frevert as
Chairman of the Board of Commissioners
Cincinnati, OH – June 27, 2022. The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) has elected Toby Frevert, of New Berlin, IL, as chairman of the Board of Commissioners. Frevert was appointed to the Commission by Illinois State Governor Pat Quinn on December 29, 2009 and assumes his chairman role July 1, 2022. Frevert’s professional career includes a total of 37 years of service to Illinois EPA, where he served in various management positions in both water quality and air pollution control programs. Most recently, he served as the manager of the Division of Water Pollution Control, Bureau of Water, with Illinois EPA from 2001 until his retirement in 2008. As water pollution control manager, he oversaw permitting, water quality standards, surface water monitoring, and field operation programs. ORSANCO values his technical and policy perspective involving ecosystem management in matters of interstate and international significance.
Frevert is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana, with a degree in environmental engineering. Since retirement from state government, Frevert has provided technical and policy advice and services to clients regarding water quality and related regulatory issues to industrial and municipal clients. Frevert also served as ORSANCO’s chairman in 2014 and has served the Commission as its vice-chairman and secretary/treasurer on multiple occasions. Frevert believes the core value of ORSANCO is the success of its close working collaboration with member states and partner agencies through its numerous water quality monitoring programs that can best be accomplished by an interstate organization such as ORSANCO. “ORSANCO’s roots were not cultivated from a single state, person, or place within the watershed, but as a multi-state agency set up to represent multiple states, people, and waters of these states. The Ohio River is an incredible resource that brings us all together. Member states work together, along with a diverse variety of partner organizations, all with a similar mission of creating better science and better decisions for our watershed,” stated Toby Frevert, ORSANCO chairman elect. In addition to Frevert’s appointment, John Hoopingarner (Ohio Commissioner from New Philadelphia, Ohio) was elected as vice-chairman and David Flannery (West Virginia Commissioner from Charleston), West Virginia, was appointed as secretary/treasurer.
ORSANCO, headquartered in Cincinnati, OH, was established in 1948 to protect the Ohio River and its vital uses of drinking, industrial supplies, recreational purposes; and support of a healthy and diverse aquatic community, as well as, raise public awareness and involvement throughout the basin, representing Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. In total, twenty-seven commissioners are appointed from the member states and the federal government.
