ALPC Staff
Agency Director:
Jon Fitch was appointed by Governor Mike Beebe on January 22, 2007 as Director of the Livestock & Poultry Commission. Fitch, 56, a 1973 graduate of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, was elected to the House of Representatives in 1979. He remained there until his election to the Arkansas Senate in 1985 where he served until 2002.
He served and chaired numerous committees while in the legislature, including 18 years as a member of the Agriculture and Economic Development Committee and handled numerous bills concerning livestock and poultry while in the legislature. In 1985 when Arkansas' cattle industry was at the verge of being placed on brucellosis quarantine, he passed the first Brucellosis Eradication Act. Arkansas reached Brucellosis free status in 1997.
He currently operates a 6th family generation farm and cattle operation in Madison County near Hindsville.
The Arkansas Legislature established the Livestock & Poultry Commission in 1963. The first man to be appointed to lead that department was Rolla Fitch, Jon Fitch's father.
Deputy Director/Administration:
Dewayne Kimbrell has served in the capacity of administrator, assistant director and chief fiscal officer for the Livestock and Poultry Commission since May of 1975. He is a graduate of Pine Bluff High School and Arkansas A&M College where he received a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration. After graduation he served in the U. S. Army and is a veteran of the Vietnam War. His 30+ year tenure with state government includes serving as an accountant with the Department of Finance and Administration, fiscal officer with the Division of Social and Rehabilitation Services and chief fiscal officer and agency coordinator with the Department of Commerce.
State Veterinarian:
George Pat Badley, DVM,
was named Arkansas' State Veterinarian on January 3, 2005. Dr. Badley was born October 7, 1947 at Webb,
Oklahoma to George W. and Dorothy Gore Badley. He graduated from Shidler Public Schools in Shidler Oklahoma
in 1965, and then received a Bachelor of Science degree from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater,
Oklahoma in 1969. In 1971 Dr. Badley received a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree also from Oklahoma
State University. He worked in a private practice in Chickasha, Oklahoma for Dr. James Carpenter from
1971-1974, then worked for Dr. Tommy Brown in Morrilton, Arkansas from 1974-1975. Both of those clinics
were mixed animal clinics with emphasis on cattle and horses. From 1975-1980, Dr. Badley worked in Little
Rock, Arkansas at Dr. C. T. "Ted" Mason's mixed animal practice treating small animals and doing farm
calls on horses and cattle. Since 1980, Dr. Badley has owned a single veterinarian practice in southwest
Little Rock, Arkansas treating small animals, horses and cattle. Dr. Badley has served as the Official
Veterinarian for the Arkansas State Fair for over fifteen years. He has been a member of the American
Veterinary Medical Association for over 30 years and a member of the Arkansas Veterinary Medical
Association for over 25 years. Dr. Badley is married to Robin Rice Badley and resides in the Ferndale area
of Little Rock, Arkansas on a small horse farm, where he and Robin raise American Quarter Horses.
Dr. Badley was appointed to the Secretary's Committee on Foreign Animal and Poultry Diseases on
May 26, 2006. Dr. Badley is also scheduled to take the Foreign Animal Disease Diagnostician Course
at Plum Island in June of 2008.
Assistant State Veterinarian/NPIP Coordinator:
Hashim M. Ghori, DVM, Ph.D., Dipl. ACPV is the Director of Poultry Disease Program and is the Contact Representative for Arkansas in the National Poultry Improvement Plan (NPIP). Dr. Ghori joined Arkansas Livestock & Poultry Commission in October 1979. He received his DVM degree from Osmania University, India in 1964. He was engaged in Poultry practice before coming to USA in 1967. He worked as a poultry trainee with a poultry company in Mississippi. Then he attended Auburn University and received a M.S. degree in 1970 and a Ph.D. degree in 1976. Prior to joining Arkansas Livestock & Poultry Commission he worked at Rocco Turkeys in Virginia and at the State Diagnostic Laboratory at Jackson, MS.
Field operations:
Charles Gann is a 1960 graduate of North Little Rock High School. He also attended Southern State College in Magnolia, with a major in agricultural education. From 1964-1974 he worked as manager of a livestock auction market in Searcy, AR. He also ran a cattle operation from 1964-1980. In March of 1974 he went to work for the AR Livestock and Poultry Commission as a livestock inspector. In 1985 he became an area supervisor. He is now Head of Field operations. He also has a horse ranch in Searcy where he raises and shows quarter horses with his wife Joan.
Poultry and Egg Division Manager:
Danny Hughes has been with the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission since 1972. He began work as a field inspector and was promoted to Assistant Federal-State Supervisor in 1980. He holds licenses in egg products, poultry grading, turkey grading, and shell egg grading. Danny was promoted to division manager for the Poultry and Egg Division in 1983 where he currently serves the agency. He is past president, vice president, and director for the National Egg Regulatory Officials group where he remains an active member. Danny is a life long resident of White county.
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