Looking back at Colleen Callahan’s nearly four years as the first woman director of the IDNR

Colleen Callahan stands in front of the headquarters of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources on the northwest corner of the Illinois State Fairgrounds shortly after she became the first woman to be director of the IDNR in 2019. (Dale Bowman)

Colleen Callahan stepped down as director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources at the request of Gov. J.B. Pritzker. Her last day in the office was Friday. On March 1, 2019 Callahan became the first woman director of the IDNR and its earlier version, the Department of Conservation.

“Four of us [directors] are leaving and won’t return, it kind of goes with the territory,” she said.