Wisconsin DNR Announces New Regional Secretary's Directors

MADISON, Wis. – The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) today announced three new regional Secretary's Directors, effective July 14. Connie Antonuk will be the new Secretary's Director for the Northeast region, Jill Schoen for the West Central region, and Shelly Allness for the South Central region.

The DNR's Secretary's Directors serve within their respective regions, acting as the department's eyes, ears and voice throughout the state, ensuring prompt attention to local issues and improved responsiveness to opportunities.

Connie Antonuk has been with the DNR for 31 years, most recently serving as the Northern Region Field Integration Leader. Connie started her career as a limited term employee at the Escanaba Lake Research station as a creel clerk measuring walleyes and talking with anglers. She then went on to write preliminary site assessments for the Superfund program. Her first full-time position at the DNR was with the Remediation and Redevelopment program, cleaning up leaking underground storage tank sites. She then moved to the Park Falls DNR office, where she worked with the Forestry, Wildlife, and Parks and Recreation programs. While in Park Falls, Connie also worked with the Hayward tree nursery, Flambeau River State Forest and the fire management program. In 2006, Connie was appointed Air and Waste Leader for the Northern Region, eventually transitioning to the Field Integration Leader position. Before joining the DNR, Connie worked for the US Fish and Wildlife Service raising lake trout at a federal fish hatchery.     

Jill Schoen has over 30 years of experience in natural resources management, serving the department in various capacities. She was introduced to the agency through an internship and later began her professional career as a Program and Planning Analyst for what was then the Water Resources Management Program in Madison. She moved to the West Central Region and subsequently served as a Field Specialist and Policy and Plan Review Expert in the Waste and Materials Management Program, a Regional Supervisor in both the Waste & Materials Management and Waterways Programs, and Field Operations Director for the Watershed Program. Most recently, Jill most recently served as Program Director for the Watershed Management Program.

As a 25-year public servant, Shelly Allness has happily been with the DNR for over 20 years. Most recently, Shelly served as the South Central Region Field Integration Leader; before that, she was the Deputy Legislative Director and the Agency Tribal Liaison. Shelly started her DNR career as a DOT Liaison/Environmental Analysis Specialist in the Northeast. She later served as the Division Policy Advisor for the Fish, Wildlife, and Parks predecessor, the Lands Division. Shelly was also a member of the leadership team working within the Secretary's Office at the Department of Tourism for several years, where she worked on various topics and regularly engaged with the outdoor recreation and tourism industry.