Consumer Healthcare Products Association CEO to Step Down After 16 Years

Scott Melville, president and CEO of the Consumer Healthcare Products Association (CHPA), the trade group representing manufacturers of over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, dietary supplements, and consumer medical devices, will leave the organization early next year after 16 years in the role.

"Serving as CHPA's President and CEO for the past 16 years has been a tremendous privilege," Melville said in the association’s announcement,^` adding that he plans to spend more time with family while serving on boards and committees and becoming more active in civic life.

CHPA has not named a timeline beyond "early next year" for Melville's departure, nor has it identified candidates or a target date for naming a successor.

What Prompted the Leadership Transition at the Trade Association?

Melville has led the CHPA since 2010, a period in which the group broadened its identity from an organization focused primarily on OTC medicines into what it now describes as the leading voice of the self-care industry, encompassing OTC drugs, dietary supplements, and medical devices.

Greg Bradley, chairman of Foundation Consumer Healthcare and chair of the association's board, credited Melville with strengthening the group's standing with regulators and lawmakers. "Scott has been a tireless advocate for our members, a trusted voice with policymakers, and a steady leader through periods of significant change."

The board's search for a successor will be led by Bradley and Chair-elect Phil McWaters, senior vice president and general manager of North America personal health care at Procter & Gamble, working with the association's executive committee.

What Has the Association Accomplished During This Period?

Two regulatory changes anchor the association's account of Melville's tenure. The first is the 2020 restructuring of how the FDA regulates over-the-counter drug monographs, enacted through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, which replaced a decades-old rulemaking process with a user-fee-funded framework the FDA continues to implement.^2,3

The second is the same law's restoration of health savings account and flexible spending account eligibility for over-the-counter medicines, which had been narrowed by earlier legislation. The association also points to its role during the COVID-19 pandemic and to its Health In Hand Foundation, which it says expanded under Melville to focus on consumer-facing, evidence-based education. Bringing dietary supplements and medical devices under the same advocacy structure as over-the-counter drugs was itself a structural shift, one the association credits with giving supplement manufacturers a more consolidated voice in federal policy discussions than they had before 2010.

What Does This Transition Mean for Supplement and Device Manufacturers?

For member companies across the association's 3 product categories, continuity in trade representation matters most when regulatory frameworks are still being implemented, as is the case with the ongoing over-the-counter monograph user-fee program. A leadership change does not by itself alter that regulatory trajectory, but it does introduce a transition period during which the association's policy priorities will be managed under an incoming, not-yet-named executive, a detail manufacturers weighing engagement with the association may want to track.

Trade groups representing multiple regulated categories, as this one does, often rely on long-tenured leadership to maintain consistent relationships with agency staff and congressional committees, making the length of any transition period as relevant to member companies as the eventual choice of successor.

References

1. CHPA President and CEO Scott Melville to step down after 16 years of leadership. Consumer Healthcare Products Association. August 21, 2026. Accessed August 21, 2026. Press release provided via email.

2. Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, Pub L No. 116-136, 134 Stat 281 (2020). US Government Publishing Office. https://www.congress.gov/116/plaws/publ136/PLAW-116publ136.htm

3. Performance Report to Congress: Over-the-Counter Monograph Drug User Fee Program FY 2024. US Food and Drug Administration. Covers fiscal year ending September 30, 2024; publication date not stated in the source document. Accessed August 21, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/media/186319/download