Greg Patterson was nominated by Gov. Matt Meyer and confirmed by the state Senate in January 2025 as the 12th secretary of the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC). In this role, he heads the cabinet agency with broad responsibilities for safeguarding and managing the state’s natural resources, protecting public health and the environment, providing outdoor recreational opportunities and educating Delawareans about the state and planet.

As secretary, he oversees efforts to combat climate change, lower energy prices for Delawareans, promote environmental justice, streamline permitting, make DNREC’s services and experts more accessible to the public, and more. Under his leadership, DNREC unveiled an updated Climate Action Plan, assessed and increased penalties for environmental violations and created an online dashboard to make the permitting process quicker and easier for customers.

Through his Field Trip Fridays, Secretary Patterson visits DNREC offices, programs and projects to showcase the day-to-day operations of the agency and share the stories of the Department’s hard-working employees.

He has spent more than 25 years in Delaware state government, including working for three governors, two attorneys general, an insurance commissioner and lieutenant governor as well as at DNREC previously. In those roles, he helped allocate federal infrastructure funding, authorize offshore wind and pass universal recycling and handled policy, communications, legislation and agency management.

A Dover native, he graduated from Washington and Lee University, where he met his wife, Sarah. He is a proud girl dad to Wyatt, Laurel and Juliana.

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