The Texas A&M
University System Board of Regents appoint Davis after retirement of Tom Boggus
Al Davis, deputy agency director of the
Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service, TEEX, will serve as interim agency
director for the Texas A&M Forest Service after being appointed on June 7
by The Texas A&M
University System Board of Regents in a special telephonic
meeting.
Davis will fill the position after Thomas
G. “Tom” Boggus, former director of Texas A&M Forest Service and state
forester of Texas, announced his retirement, effective June 1.
Davis has been employed with TEEX since 2005, having served as director
of the National Emergency Response and Recovery Training Center. In 2014, he was
appointed to deputy agency director. He is the immediate past chairman of the
National Domestic Preparedness Consortium, co-founder and principal emeritus of
the National Cyber Security Preparedness Consortium, and a former advisory
board member of the National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security.
Davis earned a bachelor’s degree in marketing
from Southern University and A&M College, Baton Rouge, Louisiana; a
master’s degree in national resource strategy from the National Defense
University, Washington, D.C.; and a master’s degree of business administration from
Averett University, Danville, Virginia.
Prior to his time with The Texas A&M University System,
he worked as a consultant with United Water and served as a chief executive of
the Public School District in New Orleans. He also served in the U.S. Marine
Corps and retired at the rank of colonel.
The Texas A&M Forest Service was created in 1915 out of
a need for a conservation plan and state forester for Texas. Each state in
the U.S. has a forestry agency, but Texas was the first state in the nation to
establish its forestry agency as part of a land-grant college.
The mission of the Texas A&M Forest Service is to assure
the state’s trees, forests and related natural resources are protected and
sustained for the benefit of all. This duty to protect and serve manifests in
vary ways.
From the initial response to ongoing recovery, the agency
strives to protect Texas from wildfire and other types of disasters. Similarly,
the agency boasts strong partnerships with fire departments and governments on
a local, state and national level. Its programming and educational outreach
directly aids communities across the state in protecting and conserving their
lands.