The Hawaii state Senate has approved Suzanne Case as chairman of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The Senate voted to confirm Gov. David Ige’s nominee on Friday.

Case is a 28-year veteran of the Nature Conservancy. She has a background in coastal, marine and native forest preservation.

Case was approved to fill the role after Ige failed to convince senators to confirm his previous pick, Castle & Cooke land developer Carleton Ching. Environmentalists had decried Ige’s selection of Ching to lead the department.