Richard D. White joined Allen F. Johnson (AFJ) & Associates as the Director of Regulatory Affairs in February 2006, bringing nearly 40 years experience of U.S. government and military service to the firm.  He brings extensive experience in the implementation and operation of the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Agreement on the Application of Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures, the U.S. framework for ensuring food safety and animal and plant health, and in the resolution of bilateral SPS-related trade concerns.

Prior to joining AFJ, Mr. White served for six years as the Senior Director for Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Affairs at the Office of the United States Trade Representative in the Executive Office of the President.  At USTR, Mr. White worked closely with the private sector, the Hill, and U.S. government agencies to develop and implement U.S. food safety and animal and plant health policies.  He was the U.S. representative to the WTO Committee on SPS Measures and led the SPS negotiations in a number of free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations, including Chile, CAFTA-DR, Morocco, Bahrain and Thailand.  Mr. White was also the SPS expert on the USTR team in WTO dispute settlement proceedings, including the Japan apples and EU biotechnology cases.

He also has extensive experience in working with companies and foreign governments to solve SPS related problems and identify programmatic solutions.  During his tenure at USTR, Mr. White developed SPS-related technical assistance programs aimed at increasing compliance with SPS obligations.  For example, Mr. White developed an initiative to enhance participation in the WTO SPS Committee with capital-based SPS technical experts from Latin America and the Caribbean.  This program has been in place since 2003 and has significantly increased the awareness of SPS obligations throughout the Western Hemisphere and has promoted transparency and the use of science as the basis of decision-making on SPS measures.  Mr. White also led an interagency effort to provide an intensive training program on the U.S. SPS system for SPS officials from China.  The scope and content of this program was unprecedented as it involved extensive participation by U.S. SPS regulatory and economic agencies as well as opportunities for the Chinese participants to meet with a wide variety of U.S. food and agricultural exporters.

Before joining USTR, Mr. White served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for ten years where he represented EPA at international and interagency meetings and provided expertise on the U.S. regulation of pesticide use and the establishment of tolerances for pesticide residues in food.  Mr. White also served at the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Coast Guard.  Mr. White served on active duty in the U.S. Army for two and one-half years.

Mr. White received a Bachelor of Arts from Temple University and holds a Masters of Public Administration from Virginia Tech.  He and his wife have two sons and two grandchildren.