Al Armendariz was appointed by President Obama on November 5, 2009, as the Regional Administrator for EPA’s Region 6 office in Dallas. He is responsible for managing Agency activities in Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and 66 tribal nations, under the direction of EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

Dr. Armendariz has brought a deep commitment to environmental issues to his work at EPA. He has made working with communities a priority across the Region, frequently engaging directly with those most vulnerable to harm from polluters. This was especially evident during the Agency's response to 2010's Gulf of Mexico oil spill, during which he worked tirelessly with area residents, local governments, and community groups.

His passion for working with communities mirrors Administrator Jackson’s agency priority of working for environmental justice. He has led the region’s efforts in assessing resident concerns in Port Arthur, Texas, a heavily industrialized area near the Gulf Coast and one of EPA’s ten environmental justice showcase communities. He has also forged similar ties in Mossville, Louisiana, and other areas where families live and work near industrial polluters. As he continues his tenure, he brings the same passion to the Region's work on air quality, wetlands protection, climate change and other environmental goals.

Prior to his appointment, he spent eight years as a professor in the Department of Environmental and Civil Engineering at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, where he received several faculty awards. For the past 15 years, Dr. Armendariz has worked in a variety of research and academic positions including, for a short time in 2002, in the Region 6 offices.

Before joining SMU, he was a chemical engineer with Radian Corporation in North Carolina. During and after college he worked as a research assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Global Change Science at its Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratory in Massachusetts.