Richard Wright

Richard (Rich) Wright is the director of the Smithsonian Institution’s Office of Safety, Health, and Environmental Management (OSHEM). He has served in this position since 2014 and is responsible for the oversight and implementation of the safety, health, environmental management, and fire protection and life safety programs for the Smithsonian Institution’s museums, the National Zoo, and research facilities.  

From 2007 to 2014, Wright served as the chief of the Safety and Occupational Health Office at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) headquarters. As USACE’s senior safety and occupational health authority, he was responsible for developing and executing safety and health policy and objectives across the worldwide command consisting of over 34,000 civilian and military personnel, as well as a contractor workforce engaged in work involving high risk activities at home and abroad. He led approximately 400 safety and health professionals in the USACE Safety Community of Practice. 

Wright served as the director of Safety and Occupational Health for the Secretary of the Navy at the Pentagon from 2002 to 2007. There, he provided policy and management oversight to various safety and occupational health related programs across the Navy and Marine Corps. These programs included injury prevention, fire and emergency services, explosives safety, weapons safety, laser and nuclear/radiation safety, and occupational health.  

From 1996 to 2002 Wright served as the senior industrial hygienist and radiation protection staff officer at USACE headquarters where he managed the Occupational Health and Radiation Safety Programs for the Corps’ environmental and unexploded ordnance remediation work. 

Wright served on active duty in the U.S. Army (Medical Service Corps) from 1991 to 1996 in several capacities.  

Wright holds a BS in industrial hygiene and environmental toxicology from Clarkson University, where he obtained his commission through the Army ROTC program, and an MS in occupational and environmental health from New York University. He is a graduate of the Harvard University Senior Executive Fellows Program and the Federal Executive Institute.