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ASH Promotes Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy to Policy Director
Her 13 Years of Leadership with ASH will Continue to Strengthen Our Movement
WASHINGTON, DC – OCTOBER 1, 2026 – Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is proud to announce the promotion of Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, J.D., to Policy Director, recognizing more than a decade of her leadership advancing innovative legal and policy approaches to end the tobacco epidemic.
Kelsey joined ASH in 2013 as a Staff Attorney and has risen through the organization to Managing Attorney and now Policy Director. Over the past 13 years, she has built a proven record of advancing tobacco control through human rights, litigation, tobacco industry accountability, environmental protection, and tobacco endgame policy—both in the United States and around the world.
“Kelsey has been an extraordinary force for change at ASH,” said Laurent Huber, Executive Director, Action on Smoking and Health. “She brings together legal expertise, international experience, strategic vision, and an unwavering commitment to protecting the right to health. Her leadership has helped expand what is possible in tobacco control, and I am thrilled to see her take on this new role.”
As Policy Director, Kelsey will lead ASH’s policy portfolio and help shape the organization’s next phase of advocacy. She will continue to direct ASH’s human rights program, using the United Nations system and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to advance stronger protections for health and hold governments and the tobacco industry accountable. Her work has engaged the UN Human Rights Council and treaty bodies including the Committees on the Rights of the Child, the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, and the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.
Kelsey also serves as co-chair of the Global Project Sunset Steering Committee, directing ASH’s tobacco endgame policy mission and guiding efforts to phase out the sale of commercial tobacco products. Through Project Sunset, ASH works with advocates, researchers, policymakers, and communities to develop and implement policies that move beyond managing the tobacco epidemic and ending the commercial sale of tobacco.
“Good policies don’t just happen,” said Kelsey Romeo-Stuppy, Policy Director, Action on Smoking and Health. “They require research, daily action, training, technical assistance, and a dedicated team. At ASH, we give policymakers and advocates the legal and technical tools they need to turn evidence into action. We know that governments have the power to protect health and human rights, and we are working toward a future where commercial tobacco is no longer sold.”
Kelsey will also continue to lead ASH’s work on tobacco industry liability, including efforts to pursue civil and criminal accountability for tobacco industry harms. She played a leading role in ASH’s successful involvement, alongside partner organizations, in litigation against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration concerning the agency’s failure to act on menthol tobacco products.
And she will continue to serve on the External Advisory Board of the Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education at the University of California, San Francisco.
“The tobacco epidemic is not inevitable,” said Romeo-Stuppy. “We have the legal tools, the human rights frameworks, and the policy solutions to change its trajectory. Our challenge—and our opportunity—is to use them boldly, strategically, and together to protect the next generation.”
ACTION ON SMOKING AND HEALTH
Founded in 1967, Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) is America’s oldest anti-tobacco organization, dedicated to a world with ZERO tobacco deaths. Because tobacco is the leading cause of preventable death worldwide, ASH supports bold solutions proportionate to the magnitude of the problem. https://ash.org
