Appointed Director of DAODAS by Governor Nikki Haley in January 2011, Bob Toomey has worked in critical state government roles for many years. He served as Director of Research for both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, then held positions as Deputy Director of the Budget and Control Board; Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Mental Health; and Director of the South Carolina State Retirement System.
Although Mr. Toomey retired from State government in 2002, he continued to pursue his lifelong interests in healthcare policy and public service. In 2003, he briefly served as Acting Director of the Department of Health and Human Services, and in 2004, Governor Mark Sanford appointed him Chairman of the S.C. Commission on Healthcare Access. Mr. Toomey also served as Governor Sanford's appointee to the Joint Committee on OPEB in 2006 and, until his appointment as DAODAS Director, had been a member of the S.C. Deferred Compensation Commission since 1996. Most recently, he was Executive Director for Medicaid Health Plans of South Carolina, a non-profit association of managed care organizations.
Mr. Toomey's volunteer work is primarily in the area of behavioral health. He has been a member of the Board of LRADAC (the alcohol and drug abuse authority serving Lexington and Richland counties), where he chaired the Recovering Community Relations Committee. He is a member of the Board of Pavillon, an inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation facility near Lake Lure, N.C. He is also a long-time advocate for the rights of the mentally ill, with service as a Board member for S.C. Protection and Advocacy for Citizens with Disabilities; Board Chair for the Mental Health Association in South Carolina; and Co-Chair of NAMI Walks 2010 in Columbia.
Before earning an M.B.A. from Cornell University, Mr. Toomey was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
As Director of DAODAS, Mr. Toomey provides leadership and management direction for a statewide system of community-based substance abuse agencies. These agencies provide prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery-support services to citizens in every county of the state in an attempt to reduce the negative health, social and economic consequences resulting from the use of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.