The National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG) has announced that Executive Director Chris Toth plans to retire from his role in 2022. Toth will leave the organization after 18 years of service, including serving as the organization’s top staff leader for the last four years.
Toth first joined NAAG as the organization’s deputy executive director in 2004, a role he held until 2017. During this time, he oversaw support of NAAG committees and supervised the NAAG Center for Tobacco and Public Health and NAAG Center for Supreme Court Advocacy. In 2007, he helped establish the National Attorneys General Training and Research Institute (NAGTRI), NAAG’s research and training arm, and served as NAGTRI’s director from its 2007 inception until 2017. In 2017, Toth was appointed as NAAG executive director. Prior to joining NAAG, Toth was a prosecuting attorney in Indiana, and served several tours on active duty in both the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army.
“It has been my privilege to serve America’s attorneys general over the past 18 years. I want to thank the NAAG staff for their work on behalf of the attorney general community and the Executive Committee for its support,” Toth said. “While I will be transitioning out of my role as NAAG executive director next year, I will continue to champion NAAG and the bipartisan work of attorneys general from outside the organization.”
“It has been a pleasure to work with Chris over the past seven years,” said NAAG President and District of Columbia Attorney General Karl A. Racine. “His service to NAAG and its mission to foster a bipartisan forum for the attorney general community has never wavered. I wish Chris all the best in his future endeavors.”
“As a member of NAAG for more than 40 years, I’ve seen the organization undergo significant positive changes. Chris has been a true leader with enormous integrity. Without him, there would be no NAGTRI. He conceived it, built it, and developed it,” said NAAG President-Elect and Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller. “I look forward to working with him for the remainder of his tenure at NAAG and thank him for his years of service.”
“Chris has been a champion of bipartisanship during his time with NAAG. Although he is not officially one of the “people’s lawyers”, he certainly embodies all that the title represents,” said Tennessee Attorney General Herbert H. Slatery III. “From his military service, to his legal career, to his leadership of NAGTRI and NAAG, Chris has been a true public servant.”
NAAG plans to engage an executive search firm to conduct a national search for the organization’s next executive director, who is expected to be in place in 2022.
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