Marel King, Pennsylvania Director of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, will address the Society on October 2, 2014 at the Union League of Philadelphia, on issues surrounding the Chesapeake Bay and the goal of sustainable agriculture.  Her bio follows.

Marel King is the Commission’s Pennsylvania Director. Her focus areas have included the federal Farm Bill, the emerging regional biofuels industry, and implementation of the Commonwealth’s Chesapeake Bay Tributary Strategy and Total Maximum Daily Load under the federal Clean Water Act.  Prior to joining the Commission staff, she was Director of Regulatory Affairs and then Director of Natural Resources in the Governmental Relations Division of the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.

Marel serves on the Board of Directors of the Susquehanna Greenway Partnership, Susquehanna Valley Regional Board of Economics Pennsylvania, the Perry County Cooperative Extension Board and as an Elder of the Duncannon Presbyterian Church. She has recently served on the WITF Community Advisory Board and is a past chair of the Pennsylvania Bar Association’s Agricultural Law Committee.

She received her J.D. from the Dickinson School of Law of the Pennsylvania State University and her B.S. in Dairy and Animal Science with High Distinction and with Honors in Agricultural Economics and Rural Sociology from the Pennsylvania State University.  Marel was captain of the two-time national champion Holstein Dairy Quiz Bowl Team in her days as a 4-H member and stays active in the dairy industry by assisting with her family’s ice cream business. She enjoys competitive baking and non-competitive fly fishing.