Richard Bennett was appointed Director of the Office of Agency Operations in April 2023.
As director, Bennett is responsible for directing the administrative services for the Department of State. His functional responsibilities include enterprise risk management; facilities and leasing planning and management; continuity of operations; workplace health, safety, and security; continuous process improvement activities; space utilization; fleet management; and administration of travel, telework, records management and mail operations.
Prior to his role as director, Bennett served as the department's Director of Strategic Operations, managing the department’s transformational efforts to continue improving the agency's purpose, processes, capabilities, and management systems. He also fostered a human-centered mindset and culture at the department, along with other administrative and support functions since joining the department in 2011.
A former sergeant in the PA Army National Guard, Bennett is a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania (B.S. MCL) and Pennsylvania College of Technology (A.A.) and has attended courses at Millersville University for elementary education. He is also a 2015 graduate of the commonwealth's Emerging Leader Program and has received a Lean Green Belt from the commonwealth's Lean certification program.
Bennett lives in Lancaster County.