The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) has named Chris Racey, the agency’s chief of staff, as interim director.
Racey will assume the role Jan. 4 after the departure of Director Austin Booth, who has led the agency since July 2021. Booth announced in November that he planned to step down to pursue a greater work-life balance. He has been hired as CEO of outdoor lifestyle company Banded Holdings Inc. of Memphis.
Racey has worked for the agency since October 2005 and has served as the agency’s chief of staff since November 2021. He earned a bachelor’s in biology from Grove City College in Pennsylvania and a master’s in fisheries biology from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff in 2001.
He worked at UAPB as a research associate before joining the Game & Fish Commission’s Family and Community Fishing Program, where he managed fisheries for Pulaski County, including Lake Maumelle and the Arkansas River, and maintained stocking programs, often driving the hatchery truck to deliver catfish and trout to anglers in underserved communities, the agency said in a news release.
Past roles include assistant chief and chief of the AGFC Fisheries Division as well as a role as the agency’s human dimensions specialist in the AGFC Communications Division.
“Thanks to Austin, we have a direction and an excellent staff to rely on to get the job done,” Racey said in a statement. “I look forward to working with the Commission, our conservation partners, the public and the AGFC staff to maintain the standard of excellence he has set.”
The commission this week unanimously approved a motion to start the process of obtaining quotes from search firms to conduct an internal and external search to identify candidates for the agency’s next director.
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