Altamont native Julie Moore was named Tuesday as Secretary of the Agency of Natural Resources, according to a release from Vermont’s governor-elect, Phil Scott.

The daughter of Judy and Joseph Slack, of Altamont, Moore is a 1992 graduate of Guilderland High School.

“When she was in second grade, she came home from school and said, ‘We took a test and it said I should be an engineer but I already knew that.’ What girl knows that in second grade?” her mother marveled.

Later, when Moore got a degree in engineering from the University of Buffalo, “There were no girls in her classes,” said Slack. She went on to earn a master of science degree in environmental science and policy from Johns Hopkins University. She is a registered professional engineer in both Vermont and New Hampshire.

Not only did Moore know she was going to be an engineer at an early age, she also was a leader from an early age.

In 1985, when she was in sixth grade, she told her mother, “I’d like to go to the board of education meeting tonight to speak up for the sixth grade.” Slack explains, “There was a work-to-rule order so teachers weren’t working outside the classroom. The kids didn’t like their activities being cut. Julie was president of the student council.”

After that, Slack said, she regularly attended board meetings. Moore became a school board member in Vermont where she lives now and Slack followed suit in Guilderland.

Moore is currently the Water Resources Group Leader at Stone Environmental, an environmental consulting firm, a post she has held for nearly six years. She also brings 15 years of additional environmental project management experience to her new post, including six years of previous experience with the Agency of Natural Resources, where she led the state’s efforts to reduce phosphorus pollution in Lake Champlain and managed a budget of more than $4 million.

Moore also served as the primary agency liaison to related programs at the agencies of Agriculture, Food & Markets, and Transportation, and routinely provided testimony to the Vermont Legislature.

Additionally, Moore has volunteered in various capacities with organizations dedicated to improving Vermont’s water resources, including as chairwoman of the Friends of Northern Lake Champlain Advisory Council.

“I am looking forward to working with Governor-elect Scott, my new colleagues in the cabinet, and the dedicated employees of the Agency of Natural Resources,” said Moore in the release, “to promote and protect Vermont’s natural resources, working landscape and the recreation assets that we value as Vermonters and attract millions of dollars in tourism visits each year.”

— Melissa Hale-Spencer