Stephen M. DeFrank was nominated to serve as Commissioner by Governor Tom Wolf on September 20, 2022, and confirmed by the Pennsylvania Senate on October 19, 2022. Once on the Commission, he was elected as Vice Chairman on October 27, 2022, and appointed as Chairman on August 30, 2023, by Governor Josh Shapiro. He was renominated by Governor Shapiro on March 24, 2025, and confirmed unanimously by the Senate on June 4, 2025. His term expires on April 1, 2030.
Some of Chairman DeFrank’s board and committee memberships include: Chairman, National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC) Committee on Gas; NARUC Board of Directors; Mid-Atlantic Conference of Regulatory Utilities Commissioners (MACRUC) Board of Directors; Organization of PJM States, Inc (OPSI) Board of Directors; Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority; Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Federal-State Joint Board on Jurisdictional Separations; New Mexico State University Center for Public Utilities (CPU) Board of Directors; Gas Technology Institute Public Interest Advisory Committee (GTI PIAC); NARUC Advanced Nuclear State Collaborative; and NARUC Electric Vehicles State Working Group.
Chairman DeFrank earned his bachelor’s degree in public policy from California University of Pennsylvania. He resides in the Harrisburg area with his wife Colleen and their two daughters Brynn and Paige.
Clayton Bubeck is the President and CEO of RETTEW, a multidiscipline engineering firm with ten offices across the United States. He joined the firm in 2000 and has a diverse background in environmental engineering, oil and gas, and renewable energy services. Mr. Bubeck works closely with RETTEW’s chief operations officer and regional vice presidents and managers to lead the company’s growth and profitability and has been instrumental in growing RETTEW to a staff of more than 300 employees. He guides RETTEW’s strategic business development efforts in the energy, transportation, industrial, and development markets. Previously, as a senior vice president, Mr. Bubeck helped evolve RETTEW from a mid-Atlantic-based firm to one developing and delivering service offerings throughout the United States.
Mr. Bubeck has served on RETTEW’s Board of Directors for more than ten years, and as a licensed Professional Engineer in more than 30 states, he has developed an in-depth understanding of our business and the architecture, engineering, and construction industries. He is a recent graduate of the American Council of Engineering Companies’ Senior Executive Institute and received a certificate from the Wharton School of Executive Education, having completed coursework geared toward emerging leaders in organizations like RETTEW.
Gary Steinbauer is a shareholder in the Environmental Group of Babst Calland. Mr. Steinbauer advises clients on a wide variety of matters arising under major federal and state environmental regulatory programs. He provides strategic advice on permitting matters, day-to-day compliance needs, government investigations, and enforcement actions. Mr. Steinbauer regularly works with companies in the chemical, mining, metals, oil and gas, petroleum refining, power generation and distribution, and other industrial sectors.
Mr. Steinbauer devotes a significant portion of his practice to advising clients on issues arising under the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and related state programs regulating air emissions and wastewater discharges. He handles air and water permitting matters and appeals and helps clients facing federal and state enforcement actions.
Prior to joining Babst Calland, Mr. Steinbauer served as an attorney in Region 5 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. While at the U.S. EPA, he handled civil enforcement matters brought under major federal environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act, Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, and Toxic Substances and Control Act. Mr. Steinbauer also advised EPA on permitting matters arising under the Clean Water Act’s NPDES program and the Clean Air Act’s Title V program.
Mr. Steinbauer began his legal career practicing commercial litigation at an international law firm and as a judicial law clerk in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
Mr. Steinbauer earned his law degree, magna cum laude, from the University of Toledo College of Law in 2006, where he was elected to the Order of Coif and served as the managing editor of the University of Toledo Law Review. He graduated from the Ohio University with a B.S. in Environmental Biology in 2002.
Mr. Steinbauer is admitted to practice in Pennsylvania, Illinois and Michigan, as well as before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He is actively involved in leadership roles within the American Bar Association’s Section of Environment, Energy and Resources and the Allegheny County Bar Association’s Environment and Energy Law Section.
With more than 20 years of experience working on regulatory and other matters related to air quality, Kate Vaccaro now co-leads the firm’s air practice group. She works with a range of clients, from petroleum refineries, power plants, and chemical and other product manufacturers, to commercial and development entities. She is able to draw on her background in applied science, including hands-on experience in the chemical manufacturing and pharmaceutical sectors, to deliver legal advice that reflects an understanding of her clients’ technical operations. Kate has extensive experience in counseling clients on compliance issues under federal and state air pollution control regulations, including virtually all aspects of the Title V permitting program. In recent years, she has spent considerable time negotiating agency enforcement actions alleging violations of regulatory requirements, including on behalf of several complex industrial facilities. Kate has also handled litigation matters, with a particular focus on defending environmental permits against third-party appeals and other administrative challenges.
Kate shares the firm’s commitment to community involvement. She is an active member of the Environmental and Energy Policy Council of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. She also serves on the Tredyffrin Township Planning Commission. Kate has served for nearly a decade as a member of the Board of Directors of the Brandywine Valley SPCA. She was previously elected to the Board of Directors of the Women’s Energy Network Greater Philadelphia Chapter. She also previously served on the Upper Merion Township Environmental Advisory Council, including as Chair, for several years, and the Board of Directors of Delaware Valley Earth Force.
Kate has spent her entire legal career at the firm, beginning as a summer associate, and then working part-time while finishing law school. Now she works closely with more junior attorneys at the firm as a partner mentor and served as the firm’s associate workload partner for five years. In 2014, Kate graduated from LEADERSHIP Philadelphia’s Core Program. In law school, she was a member of the Temple Law Review, and in college at Drexel, Kate was selected for the Honors Program, eventually earning the highest grade point average among all biology majors in her graduating class. Outside of work, Kate and her husband have a young daughter and two adopted golden retrievers and enjoy spending time outside, especially kayaking and swimming at their favorite lake.