USDA Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services
Kevin W. Concannon was nominated by President Obama and Secretary Vilsack and confirmed by the U.S. Senate in July 2009 to serve as Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services in the United States Department of Agriculture.
Food, Nutrition, and Consumer Services has principal responsibilities and funding authority for Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), which feeds 1 in 4 Americans, and has lead responsibilities for promoting healthful diet through the Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion.
Working in partnership with State and local organizations, FNS oversees the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program, which serves over 43 million Americans each month; child nutrition programs including National School Lunch, School Breakfast, and Summer Food Service Programs; The Child and Adult Care Food Program; the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC); the Commodity Supplemental Food Program; Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations; The Emergency Food Assistance Program; and other nutrition programs.
Under Secretary Concannon has had a lengthy and distinguished career in public service. Over the past twenty-five years, he has served as Director of State Health and Human Services departments in Maine, Oregon, and Iowa. He has championed expanded services, improved access, alternatives to institutions, consumer choices, affordable health care, diversity in workplace and programs, and modernization of public information technology systems.
He has served in a number of national organizations, including serving as President of the American Public Welfare Association, President of the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, trustee of the American Public Human Services Association, board member of the American Humane Association, and co-chair of the Milbank Memorial Fund state steering committee.
He has received a number of awards, including the Lifetime Human Services Award from the American Public Human Services Association in 2007.
He is a native of Portland, Maine, a graduate of Saint Francis Xavier University, Nova Scotia with both Bachelor of Arts and Master of Social Work degrees. He has continued his studies at the University of Southern Maine and the University of Connecticut Graduate School of Social Work.
Concannon has taught graduate courses at the University Connecticut, Portland State University, Oregon, and the University of Iowa as Adjunct Professor of Social Work.
