| Commissioners' Biography
Dennis L. Schornack, Chairman, United States Section
Dennis L. Schornack
was appointed to chair the U.S. Section of the International
Joint Commission by President George W. Bush and assumed
office on April 8, 2002. At the same time, Mr. Schornack was appointed as U.S. Section Commissioner to the International Boundary Commission.
Mr. Schornack served in senior positions under Michigan
Governor John Engler (1991-2002), including Special
Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, director of the Office
of Health Care Reform and Policy Development and Senior
Policy Advisor. During this time, Mr. Schornack and
his staff developed and analyzed proposed policies for
the Administration regarding health-care reform, both
at the state and national levels. Mr. Schornack had
been on John Engler's staff since 1984 when he was Executive
Assistant for Legislative Affairs to the Senate Majority
Leader. Before moving to the Senate with Mr. Engler,
Mr. Schornack worked for over five years in the House
of Representatives as a Health Policy Analyst. Mr. Schornack
began his career as a Rehabilitation Counselor with
the Greater Lansing Urban League in 1976.
Mr. Schornack did his undergraduate work at Michigan
State University in biology, and speech and hearing
science. He graduated with "high honors" in
1975 with B.A. and B.S. degrees. He entered counseling
graduate school in the spring of 1975 at Michigan State
University and graduated with a Master of Arts degree
in 1976. In 1978, Mr. Schornack returned to graduate
school at the University of Michigan and graduated a
year later with a Masters in Public Health. In 1985,
Mr. Schornack entered a unique "on-job, on-campus"
doctoral program at the University of Michigan in health
policy, which he attended for three years. During the
summer of 1993, Mr. Schornack was selected to attend
the John F. Kennedy School of Government Program for
Senior Executives in State and Local Government, at
Harvard University. This three-week program provides
participants the opportunity to sharpen their problem-solving
and analytic skills.
During the early months of the Engler Administration,
Mr. Schornack was named Acting Director of the Michigan
Department of Public Health and Acting Administrator
for Substance Abuse Services, positions he held until
full-time administrators could be appointed and confirmed.
Governor Engler appointed Mr. Schornack to be Michigan's
Commissioner of Low-Level Radioactive Waste (1991-2002).
In addition, Governor Engler appointed Mr. Schornack
to the board of the regional Great Lakes Protection
Fund in 1991, and reappointed him for four additional
two-year terms. The Great Lakes Protection Fund is an
endowed environmental grant-making fund established
by the eight Great Lakes states to support innovative
research.
Mr. Schornack co-led the development of Annex 2001,
an agreement between the eight Great Lakes states and
two Canadian provinces to manage Great Lakes water uses
and diversions. He was instrumental in the establishment
of the only fresh water national marine sanctuary in
America at Thunder Bay, near Alpena, Michigan. Through
his leadership on the Great Lakes Protection Fund, he
has pioneered efforts by Great Lakes states to develop
new technologies to stem the introduction of alien invasive
species to the Great Lakes ecosystem and to restore
natural hydrological flows in the basin.
Mr. Schornack is an avid golfer and scuba diver who
lives in Williamston, Michigan, with his wife, Linda
Gobler. He is also an active member of the Potter Park
Zoological Society board of directors and St. Luke Lutheran
Church.
Speeches
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