Our Team

Rich McKeown

Rich McKeown is the President and CEO of Leavitt Partners. He is a co-founder of Leavitt Partners with former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, EPA Administrator and Governor Michael O. Leavitt. The partnership advises clients in the practice areas of health, environment and trade. As the chief executive officer, McKeown leads a group of experienced professionals who help clients enter new markets, enhance the value of their products, navigate dynamic regulatory and reimbursement systems and improve living conditions around the world.

In a previous role, McKeown served as Chief of Staff for Michael O. Leavitt at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. At HHS, he directed and coordinated the activities of the largest department in the federal government, serving as the Secretary’s day-to-day manager for a department that employed 67,000 people and had a budget in excess of 740-billion dollars.

While at HHS, McKeown also served as the Secretary’s liaison to the Bush Administration’s Import Safety Action Plan, which Secretary Leavitt chaired and which charted a new course in the country’s approach to import safety. Secretary Leavitt designated him to lead the FDA negotiations with the Chinese Government Ministries of AQSIQ and the SFDA. These negotiations led to landmark Memorandum of Agreements on food, feed, drugs and devices which were formally signed in Beijing in December, 2007.

From November 2003 until January 2005, McKeown served as Senior Counselor and Chief of Staff to Administrator Leavitt at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. He directed and coordinated the activities of EPA’s 12 program offices and 10 Regional offices serving as the Administrator’s day-to-day manager for the 17,000-employee, eight- billion-dollar Agency and focused on the development of EPA’s formal collaborative processes .

Prior to his time in Washington, D.C., McKeown served from 1999 through 2003 as Chief of Staff to Gov. Mike Leavitt. He also served as Commissioner of the Utah State Tax Commission from 1996 to 1999.

McKeown’s background is in education and the law. He graduated from Ohio University in 1968 and from the University of Utah, College of Law in 1978. He and his wife Barb are the proud parents of five children and 6 grandchildren.