Matthew L. Myers is President of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.  The Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids is a leading force in the fight to reduce tobacco use and its deadly toll in the United States and around the world. In 1996, Mr. Myers helped to found the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids.
In the United States and around the globe, the Campaign advocates at all levels of government for policies that reduce tobacco use and save lives, and supports governments and non-governmental organizations in promoting and implementing these policies. The Campaign is a partner in the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use, which focuses on low- and middle-income countries where more than 80 percent of tobacco-related deaths will occur in the coming decades.

Over the last 25 years, Mr. Myers has participated in virtually every major US tobacco-related legislative effort, including the efforts that revised the warning labels on cigarettes in 1984, eliminated tobacco subsidies, required warning labels on smokeless tobacco and banned smokeless tobacco from advertising on TV and radio in 1986, the ban on smoking on airplanes, multiple tax increases, the lawsuits brought by the US States against the tobacco industry and the legislation that granted the US Food and Drug Administration broad authority over tobacco products. Internationally, Mr. Myers and the Campaign worked on the development of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, the first global public health treaty and are now working in countries across the globe for the implementation of the policies called for by the treaty.

In 1999 Mr. Myers was appointed to serve on the first tobacco advisory committee to the Director General of the World Health Organization. In 2000, he was named by President Clinton to co-chair a Presidential Commission to develop a proposal to both address the economic problems being experienced by tobacco farmers and at the same time promote the public health through a reduction in tobacco use. In 2011 he was selected to serve on the Civil Society Task Force to advise the President of the General Assembly of the UN in conjunction with the UN High Level Meeting on Non-Communicable Diseases.

In 1989, Mr. Myers received the prestigious Surgeon General’s Medallion from Dr. C. Everett Koop for contributions to the public health. In 2004, the Harvard School of Public Health bestowed its highest award, the Julius B. Richmond award, on Mr. Myers for his work. In 2006 the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids received the Luther Terry Award for its leadership on global tobacco control. In 2007, the American Cancer Society honored Mr. Myers with its highest award, The Medal of Honor.

Mr. Myers is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School. He began his tobacco control work in 1980 when he joined the Federal Trade Commission and was responsible for the agency’s tobacco-related activity. From 1981 to 1996 he was a partner in the law firm of Asbill, Junkin and Myers. From 1982 to 1996, he also represented the Coalition on Smoking OR Health, an organization comprised of the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, and the American Heart Association.