Sahra I. Torres-Rivera

Sahra I. Torres-Rivera has over 30 years of accounting experience, 15 of which have been within the federal government. She joined the FDA in July 2017 and currently holds three positions: Acting Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Director of the Office of Financial Management (OFM), and FDA Senior Travel Officer. She previously served as the Deputy CFO before stepping into the role of Acting CFO and as the FDA Senior Data Officer, which is a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services position responsible for leading DATA Act reporting. As Acting CFO, Ms. Torres-Rivera is responsible for the FDA's comprehensive budget, acquisitions, financial management, planning and program evaluation, and enterprise risk management operations. She has purview over five executive led offices and a financial management and contracts portfolio that executes more than $6 billion annually.

During her time at the FDA as Deputy CFO and Director of OFM, Ms. Torres-Rivera led the enhancement of OFM’s financial processes, tools, and systems in support of strong financial stewardship to facilitate the FDA’s public health mission. In these roles, she has also transformed OFM’s culture by investing in leadership development, establishing knowledge transfer processes, and documenting succession planning procedures to reduce the risk created by the departure of critical personnel.

Before joining the FDA, she supported the Office of the CFO at the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) for six years first as the Director of the Division of Central Accounting Operations, where she was responsible for the Department’s financial operations, and later as the Associate Deputy CFO, where she successfully led DOL’s Office of Financial Systems in its mission to develop, maintain, and operate the Department's financial management system. Her leadership ensured the delivery of reliable and timely financial information for management and stakeholders.

Prior to DOL, Ms. Torres-Rivera held positions within the Office of Justice Programs and the Department of Justice. Before joining the federal workforce, she held consulting positions supporting the federal government in financial statement preparation, Office of Management and Budget A-123 implementation, and review of financial processes. She is a graduate of the Office of Personnel Management’s Federal Executive Institute, Leadership for a Democratic Society Program. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Puerto Rico and a Juris Doctor from George Washington University Law School.