Dr. Tameka Owens
Assistant Administrator
Dr. Tameka Owens was appointed as Assistant Administrator of USDA Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) on March 13, 2022. In this senior executive career role, Dr. Owens is responsible for the overall operations and organizational health of the agency in support of its mission. Dr. Owens previously served as the Associate Administrator and Chief Operating Officer at FNS. She was responsible for providing leadership over three FNS organizational units: Management (Human Resources Division, Operations and Facilities Division, Contracts Management Division), Information Technology, and Financial Management. In addition, she provided executive leadership of the agency’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, Implementation of the Program Management Improvement Accountability Act, and Federal Data Strategy. In this role she led several historic initiatives to include the move of the agency’s headquarters office and the administrative response to the pandemic.
Dr. Owens has also served FNS in other roles, including leadership of the Office of Strategic Initiatives and as a member of the research team within the Office of Policy Support. She has vast experience in research, and public health and administration issues, including several years with the Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau and the Department of the Army Public Health Center.
Dr. Owens holds a doctorate of philosophy in public policy with an emphasis in health administration from Saint Louis University, a master of arts in sociology from The Ohio State University, and a bachelor of arts in sociology from Hampton University.