The Senate voted 51-47 last week to confirm Topping as the chief financial officer of the national VA department, a post to which he was nominated in February.
“Richard brings more than 25 years of experience in health care leadership and public service, with a career spanning senior roles across the federal, state, and private sectors,” Paul Lawrence, a deputy secretary of Veterans Affairs, wrote in a recent LinkedIn post.
The ExecGov.com website recently quoted Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran praising Topping, with the senator saying: “I am grateful to Capt. Topping for his willingness to continue serving his fellow veterans in this new capacity. I look forward to working with him to improve the lives of veterans, caregivers, survivors and military families in my home states of Kansas and across the country in the coming years.”
Among Topping’s many stops in his career, he served with the U.S. Army as a judge advocate and special assistant U.S. attorney, and he was also a trial attorney to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, as well as chief executive of Cardinal Innovations Healthcare.
He worked at CareSource from October 2018 to July 2024.
Dayton-based CareSource has more than 35 years of experience in Medicaid managed care and is serving more than two million people across more than a dozen states. CareSource has reported an annual revenue of $11.1 billion and employs more than 4,700 people nationwide, which includes about 1,000 in the Dayton region. It is one of the largest employers in downtown Dayton.
In 2022, CareSource announced plans to submit a bid to the U.S. Department of Defense to provide clinical services to the military through CareSource’s new subsidiary, CareSource Military and Veterans.
“Much of what CareSource has been doing in recent years has positioned us to make moves that will help us grow our mission in areas where we know we can make a difference,” Topping said at the time.
Messages seeking comment were left with representatives of CareSource and the VA.
Michael Gessel, vice president of government programs for the Dayton Development Coalition, said Topping’s experience, temperament and time in Dayton all shaped him for the role he’s taking on at the VA.
“He spent a lot of time in Dayton and certainly understood Dayton values,” Gessel said. “That’s always a good contribution to assisting with national affairs.”
“The job in Dayton was a challenging job,” he added. “It gave him a lot of experience, as well as exposed him to people in Ohio. And I think that’s wonderful background for anyone in government services at the federal level.”
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