Richard E. Stickler has been the acting Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA) since October 16, 2006.

He was born in West Virginia in 1940 and graduated from Fairmont State University with a bachelor's degree in general engineering. He worked for BethEnergy Mines Inc., a division of Bethlehem Steel, for over thirty years. From 1997 until 2003 he was the director of the Pennsylvania Bureau of Deep Mine Safety. He presided over the Quecreek Mine Rescue in Somerset County, Pennsylvania in 24 July 2003.

Stickler was nominated to the role of Assistant Secretary of Labor in charge of MSHA by President George W. Bush in September 2005. The appointment was strongly opposed by the United Mine Workers, a major worker union in the mining industry, and eight of the nine miners rescued following the Quecreek disaster..