Richard Yep

Richard Yep is executive director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the American Counseling Association (ACA), a post he has held since 1998. ACA is comprised of more than 45,000 professional counselors and counselor educators. The association has an annual budget of more than $10 million, employs 54 full-time staff, and is headquartered just outside of Washington, DC, in Alexandria, VA. As CEO, Mr. Yep has successfully guided the organization from a budget deficit position to one with a surplus and investments of more than $3 million.

Mr. Yep is the past chair of the Diversity and Inclusion Committee of the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE) and currently serves on that organization's board of directors. He is a former Volunteer in Service to America (VISTA), where he worked with Native Americans in northern Arizona on health, career, and education issues. Mr. Yep has worked in the U.S. Department of Education's TRIO programs, specifically with Upward Bound and Talent Search, programs that advocate for access to higher education for disadvantaged populations. He has been a legislative assistant in the U.S. House of Representatives and is a former board member of the Committee for Education Funding. He earned a bachelor's degree at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a Master of Public Administration degree at the University of Southern California.