New leadership named for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

[Cara J]

President Trump has nominated Aurelia Skipwith to be director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, hoping to fill a position that has been vacant since the start of his administration. In the same week, Margaret Everson was named the next principal deputy director for the agency. Skipwith is currently the Interior Department’s deputy assistant secretary for fish, wildlife and parks. She has a law degree from the University of Kentucky, as well as an undergraduate degree in biology from Howard University and a master’s degree in animal science from Purdue University. Before her position at Interior, Skipwith was co-founder and general counsel for AVC Global, which described itself as an “agricultural value chain platform that unites smallholder farmers with multinational buyers, and agronomy, business training, financial and input service providers to meet the growing demand for food.” Prior to that position, Skipwith worked at Monsanto as molecular analyst and sustainable agriculture partnership manager. “If confirmed, I look forward to the opportunity to lead the Service in achieving a conservation legacy second only to President Teddy Roosevelt,” Skipwith said in a statement released by Interior. Skipwith would be the third female Service director and the first African American to hold [...]

View the full article