Rafael DeLeon

Roles: Panelist

Mr. DeLeon is employed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) where he has worked since 1987. Mr. DeLeon is a member of the Senior Executive Service (SES) and currently serves as the Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator (PDAA) of the Office of International and Tribal Affairs (OITA). As the PDAA, he serves as a senior leadership official in OITA where he is responsible for a broad range of strategic policies, agreements and programs affecting the Agency’s international and Tribal environmental programs. In this capacity, he shares fully with the Assistant Administrator for OITA in the planning, development and implementation of the portfolio of work of OITA. Prior to joining OITA, Mr. DeLeon served as the Deputy Director of the Office of Site Remediation Enforcement (OSRE) within the Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). There he managed a national program of remediation and clean up enforcement under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), the Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act (RCRA), the Oil Pollution Act (OPA), and the Agency’s Underground Storage Tanks Program. Mr. DeLeon managed a staff on the conduct of civil and administrative enforcement activities relating to CERCLA, RCRA and OPA. Mr. DeLeon has also served as the Director of Civil Rights in the Office of the Administrator where he served as the principal advisor to the Administrator of EPA for the civil rights, equal employment opportunity and affirmative employment programs. He has served as Director of the Office of Cooperative Environmental Management (OCEM) where he managed a professional staff that was responsible for providing guidance and oversight for EPA’s ~50 Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) committees. Mr. DeLeon has also served as EPA’s Director of Human Resources where he led and managed all of EPA’s human resources functions, including but not limited to recruitment and hiring, staffing, employee performance, benefits, and labor relations. Mr. DeLeon worked in EPA’s Office of General Counsel (OGC) as a staff attorney, Assistant General Counsel and Associate General Counsel. As Associate General Counsel, he established the Civil Rights Law Office whose attorneys provided legal guidance and advice to EPA officials on all matters relating to civil rights, equal employment opportunity (EEO), special emphasis programs, and diversity and inclusion. Before joining EPA, Mr. DeLeon worked as an EEO Counselor, Investigator and Specialist at the Departments of Labor, Justice and Defense. Rafael is a graduate of Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass. where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree (BA). He also graduated from Georgetown University Law School where he received his Juris Doctor (JD) degree. He has been a lawyer since 1984.