Brian Millsap , Southwest Deputy Regional Director. Photo: USFWS. Kim Jew Studios

Deputy Regional Director

Brian Millsap is presently the Deputy Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Southwest Region.  As the Deputy Regional Director, Brian’s primary responsibility is ensuring coordination among Service programs in addressing the region’s conservation priorities.

Brian started his career with the Service in 2002, when he was hired as the Chief of the Division of Migratory Bird Management in the Washington Office.  Brian moved from Washington to the Southwest Region in 2006 as the New Mexico State Administrator for the Division of Ecological Services.  He has served as Deputy Regional Director since the fall of 2008.  Before joining the Service, Brian was the Chief of the Bureau of Wildlife Diversity Conservation for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FFWC), where he had management oversight for the state’s nongame and imperiled species programs, and the wildlife research program.  Prior to joining the FFWC in 1986, Brian was employed as a raptor biologist by the National Wildlife Federation (1982 – 1986), and before that, Brian worked as a wildlife biologist for the Bureau of land Management in Arizona and Wyoming (1978 – 1982). 

Throughout his career, Brian has emphasized the role of science in fish and wildlife conservation, particularly with respect to the management of birds of prey, other nongame birds, and threatened and endangered species.  Brian has authored 19 scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, written 16 technical book chapters or monographs, and co-edited 4 scientific books.  Brian is also active in a number of scientific and outdoor recreation organizations, having served terms as President of the Nongame Wildlife Association of North America; President of the Florida Chapter of The Wildlife Society; Vice President and President of the North American Falconers Association; and Director, Vice President, and President of the Raptor Research Foundation.

Brian holds a B.S. in Wildlife Biology from Colorado State University (1978), and a M.S. in Evolutionary and Systematics Biology from George Mason University (1986).