WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2012- Administrator of USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) Bill Murphy will retire at the end of this year, an agency official told Agri-Pulse today.

Murphy spent more than 30 years in federal service. Before his post as RMA Administrator, he served as RMA Acting Administrator during the transition to the first Obama term, Deputy Administrator for Insurance Services, Director of the Regional Office in Davis, Calif., overseeing crop insurance operations in California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii; and Director of the Western Region Compliance Office.

Murphy is a native of Pennsylvania and received a B.S. in Agronomy and Farm Management from Pennsylvania State University.

Brandon Willis is named Acting Administrator of RMA in the interim period. He currently serves as Senior Advisor to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and previously served as Deputy Administrator for Farm Programs at FSA and as an advisor to Senator Max Baucus, D-Mont., during the 2008 Farm Bill process.

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