Stephen L. Johnson
Environmental Protection Agency Administrator
www.epa.gov

Stephen L. Johnson was sworn in as the 11th Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on May 2, 2005. He assumed the position with the stated goal of promoting and maintaining the utilization of sound science while using collaborative, innovative approaches to solving environmental problems. The EPA implements and enforces the nation’s federal environmental laws and regulations; the Agency has over 18,000 employees nationwide and an annual budget of $8.6 billion.

Prior to becoming Administrator, Mr. Johnson had served as the Acting Administrator (since January 2005), Deputy Administrator (from August 2004 to January 2005) and Acting Deputy Administrator of the Agency (from July 2003 to August 2004).

Mr. Johnson has been a part of the EPA for 25 years. He was Assistant Administrator of EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances (OPPTS) from June 2001 to July 2003. The OPPTS office has responsibility for implementing the nation’s pesticide, toxic substances, and pollution prevention laws.

Mr. Johnson had been OPPTS Acting Assistant Administrator since January 2001, and had held top leadership positions in that office since January 1999, first serving as Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator. He was named Deputy Assistant Administrator in April 2000, and then was reassigned as Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator.

He had also served as Deputy Director of the Office of Pesticide Programs (OPP) since May 1997. And he served for three years in OPP as Director of the Registration Division, where he administered the pesticide registration program, establishing or revoking pesticide tolerances and exemptions and making decisions on emergency exemptions, experimental use permits, new active ingredients, new uses, and state registrations for special local needs.

Other senior level positions held by Mr. Johnson at the EPA include: Director of OPP’s Field Operations Division, Deputy Director of OPP’s Hazard Evaluation Division and Executive Secretary of the Scientific Advisory Panel for the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Mr. Johnson also has represented the EPA in various national and international pesticide forums sponsored by the United Nations’ World Health Organization and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He has held staff and management positions in the EPA’s Office of Research and Development and Office of Toxic Substances.

Prior to joining the EPA, Mr. Johnson served as the Director of Operations at Hazelton Laboratories Corporation and Litton Bionetics, Inc.

He has received numerous awards and commendations, capped in 2001 when Mr. Johnson received the Presidential Rank Award for distinguished executives for sustained extraordinary accomplishments. This is the highest award that can be given to a civilian federal employee. In 1997 he was awarded the Presidential Rank Award for meritorious executives for sustained accomplishments, which is the second highest federal employee award.

Mr. Johnson also received the EPA’s Excellence in Management Award, seven bronze medals, and the silver medal for superior service as well as the Vice President’s Hammer Award for streamlining the pesticide registration program.

Mr. Johnson was born on March 21, 1951 in Washington, DC. He received a B.A. in Biology from Taylor University in Indiana, an M.S. in Pathology from George Washington University, Washington, DC., and was awarded an honorary doctorate of science by Taylor University.