Beth Admire
Beth has more than 30 years of experience with IDEM and is the State Natural Resource co-trustee in conjunction with the Indiana Department of Natural Resource's co-trustee. Beth is also IDEM’s Special Projects Coordinator, developing solutions and action plans for agency matters that affect all programs. Beth works with IDEM’s OWQ to develop strategies for CSO management and abatement that affect Indiana’s communities.
Before she came to IDEM, Beth worked for the Indiana attorney general’s office in the Federal Litigation section, and for the Cook County State Attorney’s Office in Illinois.
She graduated from Valparaiso University School of Law and is admitted to practice in Illinois and Indiana.
Beth received an economic development award from the city of East Chicago in March 2016 and the Chanute Prize from the Society of Innovators in October 2016 for her work in restoring the Grand Calumet River.
Sierra Alberts
Sierra has represented the State of Indiana in environmental matters for over 22 years. Sierra’s practice focuses on serving the Office of Water Quality. She represents IDEM in administrative appeals, provides legal counsel, and works with the Indiana attorney general’s office on civil litigation matters. Sierra is also the section chief of the Office of Criminal Investigations.
Sierra has worked with the Indiana attorney general’s office, where she defended and prosecuted environmental matters for state agencies including IDEM, the Indiana State Department of Health, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in matters before administrative, state, and federal courts. Before she came to the state in 1999, Sierra was a deputy prosecuting attorney with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office.
Sierra received a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Spanish with a minor in Business Administration from the University of Indianapolis.
Susanna Bingman
Susanna began working for IDEM in December 2015 and is assigned to the Office of Water Quality. She is program counsel and assists with enforcement actions and Office of Environmental Adjudication appeals.
Susanna received a degree in Environmental Policy and Management from The Ohio State University and graduated from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Between undergrad and law school she worked with AmeriCorps at a watershed group in southeast Ohio. After passing the July 2015 bar exam, she briefly clerked for the solicitor general in the Indiana attorney general’s office.
Susanna is admitted to practice in the state of Indiana.
Kyle Burns
Kyle primarily provides counsel to the Office of Land Quality and Office of Air Quality on a wide range of topics including rulemaking, Office of Environmental Adjudication appeals, and enforcement actions. Kyle began at IDEM in January 2016.
He graduated from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, where he served as the executive articles editor of the Indiana International & Comparative Law Review and earned graduate certificates in environmental and natural resources law and intellectual property law. He graduated cum laude from DePauw University in 2007.
Kyle is admitted to practice in the state of Indiana.
Mark Finley
Mark began working for IDEM in January 2022 and serves as program counsel and assists with enforcement actions and Office of Environmental Adjudication appeals. Prior to joining IDEM, Mark worked a variety of legal internships in the government and environmental nonprofit sectors.
Mark graduated from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law in 2021 where he served as Treasurer for the Environmental Law Society and Secretary for the Public Interest Law Foundation. He received a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science from the University of South Carolina in 2018.
Mark is admitted to practice law in Indiana and Colorado.
Nancy King
Nancy began her career at IDEM in 1992 in the Office of Legal Counsel, working in all media. She has been the IDEM General Counsel since 2017 and held the position as acting General Counsel several times between1992 and 2017. Nancy drafted originating legislation for the Title V air permitting program and has worked primarily in the areas of rules and legislation drafting as well as program counsel for all agency programs. Nancy was the section chief over the rules section within the Office of Legal Counsel and subsequently, the branch chief over the Rule Development Branch, when that function was consolidated for all agency rulemaking. She has worked extensively with IDEM’s rulemaking boards and has been the board counsel for the Excess Liability Trust Fund Financial Assurance Board for many years. Additionally, Nancy is counsel for the natural resource co-trustee within IDEM and has worked to secure many settlements under the NRDA program, the most significant being the 2004 NRDA settlement that resulted in the dredging and cleanup of the Grand Calumet River in Northwest Indiana.
Nancy earned a Bachelor of Arts from Indiana University, Bloomington in 1984, and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Indiana University School of Law, Bloomington in 1987. Prior to her position at IDEM, she worked for Lawyer’s Cooperative Publishing in Rochester, NY, writing legal treatises for the American Law Reports series.
Julie Lang
Julie began working with IDEM as a Deputy Attorney General in 2006 and moved to the agency proper in 2013. She performs both program counsel and litigation duties for the Office of Land Quality, focusing on underground storage tank programs (UST Compliance, UST Operations and Petroleum Remediation). She obtained her law degree from Indiana University in Bloomington and has a bachelors from Purdue University.
April Lashbrook
April currently supervises five attorneys in the Office of Legal Counsel as a Section Chief, and provides counsel to the Office of Land Quality, offering advice and representation to all land programs, including solid and hazardous waste permitting and enforcement; underground storage tank compliance, releases, and enforcement; the Excess Liability Trust Fund; and hazardous substance remediation in various state and federal voluntary and enforcement programs. She is also part of IDEM’s agencywide response to bankruptcy notices and has participated in several multistate and federal agency groups formed to ensure companies who seek Chapter 11 reorganizations remain responsible for their environmental liabilities, and she is also a Registered Mediator.
April has represented IDEM in administrative and state court litigation since 2006, first as a deputy attorney general with the Office of the Indiana Attorney General, and since 2013 with IDEM’s Office of Legal Counsel. Before graduating summa cum laude from Capital University Law School (Columbus, Ohio) in 2001 and participating as articles editor for the Capital University Law Review, she worked for nine years as an environmental, health and safety manager and technical trainer for a nationwide hazardous waste management company based in Texas and Ohio. April obtained a Bachelor of Science, cum laude in Chemistry, from Butler University in 1990.
Lisa McCoy
Lisa is an attorney with the Office of Legal Counsel who represents the Office of Land Quality (OLQ). She represents OLQ in all administrative litigation and negotiations and advises staff and upper management on issues of law that arise regarding remediation and corrective action of sites under Superfund (CERCLA), Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); the state Voluntary Remediation Program (VRP) and leaking underground storage tanks (USTs). She also handles permitting and enforcement actions for all land programs including those issued by the solid waste management program. She assists in policymaking including advising on the revised R2 (formerly RCG), on ERCs and other issues that arise.
Lisa has over 30 years of practice in environmental law as a government attorney with the Office of the Indiana Attorney General and with IDEM, as a private attorney in an Indianapolis law firm, and as an in-house counsel representing the business and environmental interests of a corporation involved in heavy manufacturing. Representing both government and corporate clients provided Lisa with the opportunity to learn and to better understand the problems, issues, and obstacles faced by each.
Lisa is admitted to practice in the state of Indiana, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, and the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana.
Lisa obtained a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and English from Indiana University in Bloomington and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
John Pritchard
John Pritchard began working for IDEM in January 2022. John Received a degree in political science and legal studies from the University of Central Florida in 2011 and graduated with honors from Vermont Law School in 2017. While at Vermont Law School, John served as the Senior Articles Editor of the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law. Before joining IDEM, John worked as an associate attorney at the general practice firms Fitts, Olson, & Giddings, PLC, and Costello, Valente, & Gentry, P.C. in Brattleboro, Vermont. John brings with him a variety of experience ranging from bankruptcy, criminal defense, and civil litigation.
John is admitted to practice in Indiana and Vermont.
Sarah Sharpe
Sarah joined the Office of Legal Counsel in 2019 and currently serves as program counsel to the Office of Land Quality. She provides advice and representation to various land programs, including solid and hazardous waste permitting and enforcement; underground storage tank compliance; the Excess Liability Trust Fund; and hazardous substance remediation in various state and federal voluntary and enforcement programs. Sarah also provides counsel to the Office of Records Management.
Sarah earned a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Management from the School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University Bloomington and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Indiana.
Valerie Tachtiris
Valerie has over fifteen years of experience in environmental law and litigation. She began her legal career in the Indiana Attorney General’s Environmental Litigation Section where she defended and prosecuted environmental matters for state agencies including IDEM, the Indiana State Department of Health, and the Indiana Department of Natural Resources in matters before administrative, state, and federal court, with a particular focus on air regulations.
Valerie is currently the deputy assistant commissioner for the Office of Legal Counsel and Criminal Investigations. In addition to providing legal counsel to the agency, she oversees IDEM’s Office of Records Management.
Valerie obtained a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Administration from the University of Evansville and a Doctor of Jurisprudence from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law. She is admitted to practice in Indiana, the U.S. District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of Indiana, and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
Stephen Thill
Steve has been with IDEM since 2014. He spent his first six years with the agency as an attorney in the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC), advising and representing clients throughout the Office of Land Quality (OLQ). He then joined OLQ directly, serving as chief of that office’s Permits Branch. In 2022, Steve returned to OLC as a supervising attorney.
Before coming to IDEM, Steve served as an Assistant Attorney General for the State of Michigan, counseling and litigating on behalf of state agencies including the Department of Environmental Quality (now known as EGLE). Previously, Steve served as a judicial clerk at the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
Steve is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law (Juris Doctor with High Honors), where he served on the Board of Editors of the North Carolina Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. Steve earned his Bachelor of Arts with Distinction from the University of Michigan.
Margo Tucker
Margo began working for IDEM in 2021. Prior to joining IDEM’s legal team, she acted as assistant counsel at an environmental nonprofit and represented State agencies and their employees at the Indiana Attorney General’s Office in the Government Litigation Section.
Margo received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and a minor in Sustainability from the University of New Mexico in 2014. Margo graduated from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2017 with a Doctor of Jurisprudence and a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law.
Before becoming an attorney, Margo competed nationally as a pole vaulter, earning the titles of Indiana State Champion, indoor and outdoor All-American, and Mountain West Conference Champion.
Kyle Tucker
Kyle began working for IDEM in November 2023. Prior to that, Kyle was an Assistant City Prosecutor for the City of Indianapolis where he litigated various types of ordinance violation issues.
Kyle graduated from Indiana University Bloomington in 2015 with Bachelor of Arts Degree in History and a minor in Law and Public Policy. He graduated from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2020 with a Doctor of Jurisprudence and a Certificate in Environmental and Natural Resources Law. While in law school, Kyle he served on the Indiana Health Law Review as a note candidate and associate editor. Kyle’s law review note was selected for publication in Volume XVII of the Indiana Health Law Journal and for the 2018-2019 Indiana State Bar Association’s Distinguished Writing Award for the Health Law section.
Kyle is admitted to practice law in Indiana.
Brooke Werstler
Brooke began working for IDEM in January 2022. She provides assistance with Office of Environmental Adjudication appeals, serves as program counsel, and assists with enforcement actions.
Brooke graduated cum laude from Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2021 where she served as an executive articles editor for the Indiana Health Law Review. During her time in law school, Brooke externed at the Indiana Supreme Court and interned at Indiana Farm Bureau. In 2017, she graduated summa cum laude from Saint Joseph’s College where she received a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Bachelor of Arts in history.
Brooke is admitted to practice law in Indiana.
Betsy Zlatos
Betsy is a graduate of Indiana University Law School-Indianapolis and has served as a program counsel for the Office of Air Quality (OAQ) since 2001. She provides advice and counsel to OAQ with respect to policy development and also provides legal support for air permitting, compliance, enforcement, and State Implementation Plan development. Before her work as air program counsel, Betsy represented all program areas at IDEM in administrative litigation before the Office of Environmental Adjudication. Before coming to IDEM, Betsy worked as a deputy attorney general in the Environmental section of the Office of the Indiana Attorney General from 1987 to 1993.