Our Staff

Ralph S. Blackman is the President and CEO of the Foundation for Advancing Alcohol Responsibility. Responsibility.org was founded in 1991 and has received more than $250 million dollars from the nation’s leading distillers to fight drunk driving and underage drinking and promote responsible decisions concerning beverage alcohol. Mr. Blackman began his tenure with Responsibility.org in 1996 as Vice President for Public Affairs.

Mr. Blackman served two presidents before joining Responsibility.org. He was appointed Associate Director of the White House Conference on Small Business by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and Assistant Administrator for Private Enterprise at the U.S. Agency for International Development by President George H.W. Bush in 1992. Mr. Blackman also served on the staffs of the Governor of Illinois, the Speaker of the Illinois House of Representatives and the Republican National Committee. Mr. Blackman also founded Public Access, Inc., which provided government relations and strategic marketing advice to corporate and non-profit clients in the U.S. and abroad.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Mr. Blackman graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Western Illinois University and completed his Master of Arts degree in public administration from the University of Illinois-Springfield which honored him with the 2014 Alumni Achievement Award. Mr. Blackman also recently received his Mixologist Diploma from the Professional Bartending School, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. Mr. Blackman is the father of two recent college graduates and has been happily married for over 30 years.