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Yardley Resident Honored with EPA Employee Award

Release Date: 06/30/2009
Contact Information: Donna Heron 215-814-5113 / heron.donna@epa.gov

PHILADELPHIA (June 30, 2009) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s mid-Atlantic region presented its Instructor of the Year Award to Neil Bigioni, of Yardley, Pa., at its annual Employee Recognition Ceremony on May 5.

The Instructor of the Year Award is given to an EPA employee for exceptional dedication and effectiveness in the training of fellow employees.

In announcing Bigioni’s name at the ceremony, last year’s EPA winner, Jose Jimenez, said that the words used to describe Bigioni, an attorney in the region’s Office of Regional Counsel, include “consummate teacher, learned, enthusiastic, good communicator and always accessible.”

In December, 2006, a set of complex federal rules of civil procedure and evidence requirements became law. These e-discovery laws apply to the preservation and protection of electronically stored information. Failure to adhere to these laws, even inadvertently, could result in court sanctions, including case dismissal, monetary sanctions, and findings of contempt of court.

“Neil managed to take an immensely difficult, confusing subject -– how to protect and preserve electronically stored information in accordance with court discovery rules -- and made it understandable to our EPA staff,” said Jimenez.

Bigioni, who has been with EPA for 13 years, grew up in Levittown, Pa. and Burlington Township, N.J. and graduated from Burlington Township High School in ­­­­­1982. In 1986 he received a bachelor's degree in biology from the University of Pennsylvania and in 1990 he graduated cum laude from University of Pennsylvania Law School.

EPA’s mid-Atlantic region covers Pennsylvania, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia.