2023 Touchstone Recipient: Kelly Lee Kinkaid, P.G.

Ms. Kinkaid is a professional geologist with over 35 years of experience, employed by both governmental and consulting entities. After obtaining a B.S. in Earth Sciences from The Pennsylvania State University in 1985, she began her career as a cartographer for the Defense Mapping Agency in Brookmont, MD. She soon realized that working in the dark three levels underground was not for her. In 1986 she moved back to Pennsylvania and began working for the PA Department of Environmental Resources (PADER), initially as an air quality inspector and then as a geologist in the Clean Water Program, handling sewage facilities planning, remediation/regulatory oversight of petroleum & chemical bulk storage facilities and implementation of the statewide groundwater monitoring program. Lured away from the PADER, Ms. Kinkaid began her environmental consulting career in 1990. Her consulting work included brownfields & leaking storage tank investigations & remediations; due diligence site assessments; water supply development; stormwater management; sinkhole repairs; air & water discharge permitting (industrial, radiological & infectious waste streams); and CERCLA site investigations. Known for her thoroughness, no nonsense approach, and focus on accomplishing site goals, Ms. Kinkaid has taken an impressive number of sites to closure under various state cleanup programs. Kelly has always been active in community service and strives to be a servant leader both in her private and professional life, leading by example and encouraging fellow staff to make ethical decisions, always do their best and challenge themselves. This servant leader attitude led to her decision to return to government employment in 2019, taking a professional geologist position with the PA Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) where she reviews geologic & hydrogeologic evaluations associated with landfills and other waste management facilities. In her private life, Kelly enjoys reading, cooking, spending time with her horses and her husband John, and is an active member of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Reading-Berks County.