By Tom Latek
Kentucky Today
Two more Kentuckians have been nominated for posts in the administration of President Donald J. Trump.
Steven Gardner, president and CEO of Lexington-based ECSI, LLC, has been named to be director of the Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement and Robert M. “Mike” Duncan has been named to the Board of Governors of the United States Postal Service.
As a licensed professional engineer, Gardner has worked on projects throughout the United States and internationally and was the 2015 President of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration.
ECSI is a consulting firm focused on natural resources, mining, reclamation, energy, environmental and health and safety issues, which he has headed since 1983.
He has served on the UK Mining Engineering Foundation, Kentucky Geological Survey, Biosystems & Agricultural Engineering Advisory Boards and was a member of the Kentucky Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors. In 2011, he was inducted into the UK College of Engineering Hall of Distinction.
Gardner has an M.S. in Mining Engineering with a Graduate Certification in Environmental Systems and a B.S. in Agricultural Engineering from the University of Kentucky.
Duncan will serve the remainder of an unexpired term through Dec. 8, 2018, and an additional term that runs through Dec. 8, 2025. He is a 40-year political strategist and veteran of Republican politics and served as the chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2007-2009.
His service in the federal government includes working in the President George H.W. Bush White House as assistant director in the Office of Public Liaison and being nominated by President George W. Bush to the Tennessee Valley Authority board, a position to which he was unanimously confirmed by the United States Senate in March 2006. Duncan served as TVA board chairman from 2009-2010.
Both men must be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.