Alvin L. Alm

 Alvin L. Alm, former Deputy Administrator

William D. Ruckelshaus swearing in
Alvin L. Alm as Deputy Administrator, 1983

Alvin Alm

Related resources:

  • Oral History Interview (EPA publications number 202-K-94-005; January 1994) -- examines the career of Alvin L. Alm at EPA, including his 1983-85 term as EPA Deputy Administrator, during William K. Ruckelshaus's second term as EPA Agency Administrator. Includes information on EPA's management and budget organization; significant issues at EPA in the 1970s; the energy crisis; EPA relations with Congress, the White House, courts, environmentalists, and industry; and EPA's mission and management culture.
  • In Memoriam

Biography

[EPA press release - August 5, 1983]

The U.S. Senate yesterday confirmed Alvin L. Alm as Deputy Administrator and Howard M. Messner as Assistant Administrator for Administration for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Both men had previously served in administrative capacities at EPA and have had extensive experience in management.

"The confirmation of these highly competent and professional managers will greatly strengthen our efforts to make EPA a responsive instrument of public policy," declared William D. Ruckelshaus, EPA Administrator. "Both men have demonstrated over the years their dedication to the mission of the agency. We are pleased and honored to have them back."

Alm, 46, was EPA Assistant Administrator for Planning and Management from 1973 to 1977. In this post he received the Arthur S. Fleming Award as one of the 10 outstanding young professionals in the Federal service.

For the past four years he has been Director of the Harvard Energy Security Program and a lecturer at the Kennedy School of Government. From 1977 to 1979 he served as Assistant Secretary for Policy and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Energy, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal, the Department's highest honor.

Prior to his earlier term at EPA, Alm was Staff Director of the President's Council on Environmental Quality from 1970 to 1973, where he was responsible for coordinating development of the President's environmental legislative proposals and evaluating their economic impact. From 1963 to 1970 he held a number of positions within the Bureau of the Budget. As supervisory budget examiner for natural resource programs, he developed proposals to finance the federal water pollution control program. From 1961 to 1963 he was a management intern at the Atomic Energy Commission.

A native of Denver, Alm received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Denver in 1960 and a Master's degree in Public Administration from the Maxwell Graduate School of Public Administration, Syracuse University, in 1961.