"New Hampshire's environment and natural resources are among our state's most important economic assets. Tom Burack will be a strong leader and a partner with me in protecting New Hampshire's environment and building an even stronger economy," Gov. Lynch said. "I am confident that Tom Burack will bring people together to help protect all that we love about New Hampshire."

Burack was joined by his wife Emilie, and children, Larsen and Beatrice, his parents, Mary and Dick Burack of Jackson, as well as friends and Department staff, at the ceremony.

"I look forward to bringing together the business community, the environmental community, municipalities, other state agencies, and interested citizens, and to working closely with the Governor, our Executive Council and our legislators to develop policies and approaches that offer practical, common sense solutions to the environmental challenges facing our state," Burack said.

"A strong and vibrant economy and a healthy environment go hand-in-hand. The Department of Environmental Services has long understood this, and its customer service orientation is one of its hallmarks," Burack said. "I look forward to continuing the Department's ongoing efforts to ensure that its permitting processes are expeditious, fair and consistently applied. I also look forward to increasing the Department's outreach to the general public and the regulated community in an effort to find creative ways not only to increase compliance with existing laws and regulations, but also to promote more environmentally sustainable practices on the part of our state's businesses, municipalities and citizens."

Burack was a partner at Sheehan Phinney Bass + Green in Manchester, where he specializes in environmental, real estate and corporate law. From 1988 to 1989, Burack served as a law clerk for then-Associate New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice David Souter. From 1982 to 1984, he served as legislative assistant for environmental matters for U.S. Senator Gordon Humphrey.

Since 1990, Burack has served as chair of the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire's WasteCap Program Steering committee, which works to help New Hampshire businesses save money by reducing solid waste, conserving energy and water, and preventing pollution. As a member of the BIA's Environmental Affairs Committee, Burack assisted in the drafting of the state's Brownfields Program, a law enacted in 1996 that helps promote the cleanup and redevelopment of contaminated properties.

Burack is chair of the New Hampshire Land and Community Heritage Investment Authority, and served as a member and chairman of the commission that recommended the creation of LCHIP. He is a former member of the board of trustees for the Audubon Society of New Hampshire and now serves as an honorary trustee. He also served from 1992 to 1996 as the vice chairman of the New Hampshire Superfund Task Force established by former Congressman Bill Zeliff and as a member of the New Hampshire Recycling Markets Development Steering Committee.

Burack is a member of the Board of Advisers for the George C. Marshall Foundation; a former president and chair of the board of trustees of the Truman Scholars Association; a former chairman of the New Hampshire Bar Association's section on environmental and natural resources law; and a former legal counsel to the New Hampshire Republican State Committee.

In 2001, Business NH Magazine named Burack one of the 10 state leaders on environmental matters.

Burack graduated from Dartmouth College in 1982 and received his law degree from the University of Virginia in 1988.

Burack was raised in Jackson, where his parents still live. His wife, Emilie Christie, is a Lancaster native. They live with their two children in Hopkinton.