The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has announced changes to its leadership team with a new Agency Administrator and Assistant Administrator in the Office of Investigation, Enforcement, and Audit. The new appointments will take effect December 9, 2024.

Denise Eblen, Ph.D., will assume the role of agency Administrator. She is the current FSIS Assistant Administrator for the Office of Public Health Science, a role she has held since 2018, in which she led FSIS’s scientific analysis work, including oversight of FSIS laboratories and testing of regulatory samples, risk assessment, and outbreak investigation and response. With a total 25 years of experience at USDA, in her new position as Administrator, Dr. Eblen will continue to guide FSIS’s efforts to use science-based decision making to modernize the agency’s inspection strategies, policies, and approaches to improve public health. In addition to her work with FSIS, Dr. Eblen previously held roles with USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and USDA’s Agricultural Research Service.

Dr. Eblen holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Human Nutrition from the University of Ulster at Coleraine, a Master of Science Degree in Food Science from Queen’s University, Belfast, and a Ph.D. in Food Safety Microbiology from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown.

Paul Kiecker will be FSIS’s next Assistant Administrator in the Office of Investigation, Enforcement, and Audit, where he will head investigation, enforcement, and audit functions. Mr. Kiecker has worked at FSIS for more than 30 years, beginning as a food inspector in 1988 and most recently serving as Administrator. His previous experience at USDA includes roles in the Office of Field Operations and as a Compliance Investigator and Supervisory Compliance Investigator with the Office of Investigation, Enforcement, and Audit.

While at USDA, Mr. Kiecker has advanced the agency’s workforce recruitment effort and engagement with FSIS’s large team of field employees, among other key priorities.