Gov. Eric Holcomb has appointed a new commissioner of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management. The agency’s chief of staff, Brian Rockensuess, will replace Bruno Piggott who left for a job with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water.

Rockensuess has worked for IDEM for eight years and has experience in politics. Before becoming chief of staff, he was the agency’s director of governmental affairs and was the business, agricultural and legislative liaison. He also previously worked for the Indiana Senate.

READ MORE: IDEM Commissioner Bruno Pigott to leave for EPA position

In a news release, Rockensuess thanked Holcomb for the opportunity to lead IDEM and said that together they would continue to improve environmental protection in Indiana while “improving efficiencies within the agency.”

Rockensuess’s first day as IDEM commissioner will be Dec. 13.

Contact reporter Rebecca at rthiele@iu.edu or follow her on Twitter at @beckythiele.

Indiana Environmental reporting is supported by the Environmental Resilience Institute, an Indiana University Grand Challenge project developing Indiana-specific projections and informed responses to problems of environmental change.