Donald van der Vaart is an American chemical engineer and lawyer who served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality from 2015 to 2017. Van der Vaart was the first DEQ secretary to rise through the ranks as a scientist.
Van der Vaart earned a Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Cambridge University and a juris doctor from North Carolina Central University. In the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality, he held the positions secretary, deputy secretary, North Carolina energy policy advisor, and air quality manager.
In 2021, Chief Justice Paul Newby of the North Carolina Supreme Court appointed van der Vaart as the new Chief Administrative Law Judge and Director of the Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH). As a licensed attorney and engineer, Dr. van der Vaart brings a wealth of administrative law and practical regulatory experience to OAH.
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Panel One: The North Carolina Administrative State
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