About the Acting Regional Administrator for EPA Region 5
Robert A. Kaplan
Robert (Bob) A. Kaplan is Acting Regional Administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 5 office in Chicago. He implements federal environmental programs in the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, as well as 35 federally recognized tribal governments. Region 5 has 1150 employees in Chicago and throughout the Region.
Prior to assuming leadership of the region, Bob was Deputy Regional Administrator. He assisted the Regional Administrator and supervised the day-to-day operations of the Region’s staff. He was formerly the Regional Counsel, supervising a staff of about 125 responsible for civil and criminal enforcement actions under all federal environmental statutes in the six-state region. He also advised the Regional Administrator, Deputy Regional Administrator and the Region’s various program offices and service organizations on environmental law, government ethics, contracts, grants, employment and labor law, tribal law, and information law.
Before coming to Region 5, Bob directed the Special Litigation and Projects Division in EPA’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance in Washington, D.C. Before joining EPA, he served as the senior counsel for the environmental enforcement section at the U.S. Department of Justice in Washington, D.C.
Bob received DOJ’s 2014 John Marshall Award for Outstanding Legal Achievement and the 2014 Presidential Rank Award. Originally from Boston, he is a graduate of Carleton College and the University of Pennsylvania Law School. He now lives in Chicago with his wife Kimberly and daughter Sarah, age 6.