Appointment of John A. Svahn as Assistant to the President for Policy Development

The President today announced the appointment of John A. (Jack) Svahn, of Maryland, to be Assistant to the President for Policy Development. The appointment will be effective September 12, 1983.

Mr. Svahn, who has served since March as Under Secretary of Health and Human Services and, concurrently since May 1981, as Commissioner of Social Security, will be responsible to Edwin Meese III, Counsellor to the President, for issue analysis and policy development in all areas of domestic policy. He succeeds Edwin L. Harper.

Mr. Svahn, 40, also served as Director of the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement during his service as Social Security Commissioner until his appointment as HHS Under Secretary. In these positions, as well as in his concurrent capacity as Chief Administrator of Disability Insurance, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), he played a central policy and management role in income maintenance, health, and social services programs serving 51 million recipients and indirectly affecting nearly every American. Programs under his concurrent supervision account for more than one-third of the annual Federal budget.

Mr. Svahn served on the Reagan administration transition team in 1980 as head of the task force on the Health Care Financing Administration.

Before joining the administration, he was a consultant specializing in public policy management problems. From 1976 to 1979, he was manager of government services for the accounting/management consulting firm of Deloitte Haskins and Sells, Inc.

Mr. Svahn was born in New London, Conn., May 13, 1943. He received a B.A. degree in political science from the University of Washington in 1966. In 1966-1968 he served with the U.S. Air Force.

Beginning in 1968, Mr. Svahn held positions with the State of California and the Federal Government. In California he served first in the State Highway Department and later as chief deputy director and as acting director of social welfare. During then-Governor Reagan's administration in California, he was a principal member of the Governor's welfare reform task force.

From 1973 to 1976, Mr. Svahn held a succession of major Federal positions in the Social and Rehabilitation Service of the then-Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. He was Administrator of the SRS and Director of the U.S. Office of Child Support Enforcement, positions he held concurrently in 1975-1976. While heading SRS, Mr. Svahn was credited with developing and implementing the title XX social services program and the child support enforcement program.

Mr. Svahn is married, has two children, and lives in Severna Park, Md.