From: FDA
It is with great pleasure that I announce the selection of Richard J. Turman as the Center for Tobacco Products’ (CTP’s) Deputy Director. In this important senior leadership position, Mr. Turman will be responsible for assuring that CTP accomplishes its public health goals and objectives, including implementation of the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act. This will involve assuring effective communications across the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and CTP, within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and among stakeholders on matters related to tobacco product regulation and CTP’s regulatory authorities.
Mr. Turman brings an extraordinary depth and breadth of experience, wisdom and proven leadership to CTP and to FDA. For more than two decades, he has held positions of steadily increasing responsibility within the federal government. In his current position as Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources at HHS, Mr. Turman helps to oversee a 200-person team responsible for developing and managing the Department’s $900 billion budget and its contract, grant, program integrity, finance, and audit functions. From January 2009 through February 2010, Mr. Turman served as the Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources/CFO, where he created an HHS Office of Recovery Act Coordination and helped ensure that sufficient resources were available to address the H1N1 influenza pandemic. Mr. Turman previously served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Budget at HHS and as the Associate Director for Budget at the National Institutes of Health. As Branch Chief in the Health Division of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Mr. Turman oversaw the formulation of budgetary, legislative, regulatory, and performance management policies for HHS’ public health agencies, including FDA. While at OMB, Mr. Turman’s work included important tobacco-related policy actions; for example, coordinating the President’s Budget’s youth smoking prevention proposals in FY 1999 and FY 2000, which concerned what became the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement between the tobacco industry and 46 states and tobacco litigation.
As the Director of Federal Relations for the Association of American Universities (AAU), Mr. Turman managed the organization’s efforts to promote investments in basic research and graduate education at NIH, the National Science Foundation, the Departments of Defense, Education, Energy, and Homeland Security, and NASA. Mr. Turman also served as a Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Herb Kohl, where he was responsible for health, welfare, labor, and education appropriations issues.
Mr. Turman received a B. A. degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in History and Economics and a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of California, Berkley.
Mr. Turman brings exceptional leadership and management capabilities to his new role at CTP. He will on-board on June 23, and his first day at CTP will be July 2. Please join me in welcoming him to FDA.