The state agency “dedicated to the conservation and wise management of fish and wildlife, and the regulation of inland fishing, hunting, trapping and boating regulations” will be under new leadership effective Jan. 1, 2025.
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission announced Thursday after its commissioners’ business meeting that Michael Kyle Briggs had been selected to serve as the new executive director. Commissioners help create and maintain laws and regulations for governing hunting, fishing and boating activities.
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Previously chief deputy director for the agency, Briggs will fill the role being vacated by outgoing executive director Cameron Ingram. Ingram, who has been with the commission since 1997, became executive director in August 2020. He announced in September his plans to retire effective Dec. 31.
As executive director, Briggs will oversee the agency’s 14 divisions and offices and its around 700 permanent employees, as well as the annual operating budget of about $110 million.
“I’m honored and delighted by the opportunity to be the agency’s Executive Director,” Briggs said in a statement. “I look forward to leading the agency’s dedicated and knowledgeable staff who demonstrate their commitment on a daily basis to conserving our state’s fish and wildlife resources.”
In his most recent position as chief deputy director, Briggs oversaw the agency’s day-to-day operations as well as led the agency’s law enforcement, wildlife management, inland fisheries and habitat conservation divisions and a newly established genetics program.
“Having served as Chief Deputy Director for the past two Executive Directors, Kyle’s extensive knowledge of the innerworkings of the agency puts him in a unique position to transition into the executive director role with ease,” the agency’s commission chairman, Monty Crump, said in a statement. “Under his management, we look forward to the agency’s continued sound scientific approach to management of the state’s fish and wildlife resources.”
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A native of Lexington, Briggs, 54, resides in Raleigh with his wife, Allison. Their children Kayleigh and Noah are both in college. Briggs holds a bachelor’s degree in fisheries and wildlife science from North Carolina State University. Briggs began his career with the agency in 1994 as an inland fisheries technician at the Pisgah Forest Hatchery, now known as the agency’s Bobby N. Setzer State Fish Hatchery.
“It has been an honor and privilege to work alongside Kyle during my tenure,” Ingram said. “His understanding of the science behind sound management practices for fish and wildlife, as well as his experience and perspective as an avid angler and hunter puts him in an exceptional position to lead the agency’s in fulfilling its mission to conserve North Carolina’s wildlife resources and their habitats and provide programs and opportunities that allow outdoor enthusiasts to enjoy wildlife-associated recreation.”
The commission maintains more than 2 million acres of public lands for hunting, fishing and other outdoor recreation, operates six fish hatcheries for stocking public waters, maintains nine shooting ranges, provides hundreds of free boating access areas and publicly accessible places to fish on more than 100 different bodies of water, and offering free hunter education and recreational boating safety courses.
