Director Kent A. Benjamin is the Director of the Office of Communications, Partnerships and Analysis (OCPA) in the Office of Land and Emergency Management (OLEM) at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Kent manages a diverse staff of senior analysts, stakeholder program coordinators and communications professionals. His office provides advice and support to Assistant Administrator in OLEM on matters ranging from Data and Evidence Evaluation to Environmental Justice and Tribal issues to Social Media strategies. Immediately prior to his current position, Kent served as Director of the Innovations, Partnership and Communications office. Before returning to OLEM he was an Associate Director, in the EPA Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ).

Previously, Kent managed the EPA Office of Environmental Justice’s efforts in support of community-based projects, through outreach, communications and financial management. He worked closely with EPA’s regional offices in support of their EJ functions and approaches. Earlier, he served as Environmental Justice Coordinator and State Liaison for the Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER). In that role, he co-chaired EPA’s Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE) program where he worked with a multi-disciplinary, national, inter-agency team. Kent co-chaired an EPA workgroup which developed evaluation protocols for the agency’s EJ programs. Throughout his career, he has worked on an extensive range of issues including Brownfields Redevelopment, Waste Transfer Stations, Asbestos Rulemaking, and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Kent is trained in Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) and has facilitated community-based meetings, environmental panels and environmental justice discussions in communities nationwide and in Brasil and China. He joined EPA in 1990 as a Regulatory Impacts Analyst.

Kent holds a Master of Science degree in Public Management and Policy (MS PMP), from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Economics, from the University of Massachusetts, Boston.