Governor Mark Gordon today announced his appointments for the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, Wyoming Adjutant General, and the Wyoming Office of Administrative Hearings.
WYOMING GAME AND FISH DEPARTMENT
The governor has appointed Brian Nesvik as the next director of the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Nesvik replaces Scott Talbott, who has retired.
“Brian Nesvik brings tremendous experience in dealing with wildlife management, endangered species and law enforcement throughout the state,” Governor Gordon said.
“I am incredibly honored by this opportunity to lead a team of the best and brightest in managing world-class natural resources for the citizens of our great State,” Nesvik said. “I am grateful for the Governor’s appointment and will discharge my duties commensurate with the tremendous value Wyoming places in our outdoors, our fish and our wildlife.”
Governor Gordon added, “Scott Talbott provided excellent leadership and service to this state as director, and in the decades he worked on behalf of wildlife and the public in many other roles. Scott’s commitment to and knowledge of hunting, fishing, the wildlife laws and each of Wyoming species is hard to match.”
Nesvik currently serves as the chief of the Wildlife Division for Wyoming Game and Fish. Nesvik’s 24 years with the department have included stints as game warden throughout the state of Wyoming, regional wildlife supervisor in the Cody region and chief of the wildlife division. Nesvik served as District Game Warden in Elk Mountain for seven years before being selected for the South Pinedale Game Warden District in western Wyoming. Nesvik also took on responsibility as the department’s lead mounted horse patrol instructor. In 2010, Nesvik was promoted to serve as the Cody Regional Wildlife Supervisor charged with overseeing a large staff of game wardens, biologists and administrative folks.
Additionally, Nesvik spent time working with biologists and wardens in some of the most remote country in the lower 48 states. After a short ten months, Nesvik was appointed to serve as Wyoming’s Chief Game Warden and Chief of the Wildlife Division in 2011. Additionally, Nesvik has served in the Wyoming Army National Guard since 1986. He currently serves as the Commanding General of the Wyoming Army National Guard and the Assistant Adjutant General holding the rank of Brigadier General. Nesvik has commanded Wyoming units on two combat tours to Iraq and Kuwait.
Nesvik was one of the three names submitted to the governor for consideration by the Wyoming Game and Fish Commission. The finalists were Nesvik; Gary Bertellotti, regional supervisor for Montana, Fish, Wildlife and Parks in Great Falls, Montana; and David Morrison, small game program director Texas Parks and Wildlife in Austin, Texas.
WYOMING ADJUTANT GENERAL
Governor Gordon has appointed Brigadier General Greg Porter as his adjutant general. Porter will replace Adjutant General Luke Reiner who is retiring from the Guard in March.
“I’m honored that Brigadier General Greg Porter has agreed to serve as my adjutant general,” Gordon said. “I feel confident that he will provide the leadership, passion and dedication necessary to continue to move the Wyoming National Guard forward.”
“I am certainly honored and humbled to serve as Wyoming’s next Adjutant General,” Porter said. “Continuing to serve with great men and women of the Wyoming Military Department is a dream come true. My thanks to Governor Gordon for his trust and confidence.”
“Thank you to Adjutant General Reiner for his years of service leading the Wyoming National Guard,” Gordon added. “I have always been impressed about his dedication to those serving under his command and their families. Wyoming had been very lucky to have him in leadership.”
Porter serves as the director of the joint staff for the Wyoming National Guard. Prior to his selection as the director of the joint staff, he served as the Army chief of staff, the director of information management, and the joint operations officer. Porter was commissioned in 1987 as a Second Lieutenant in the Army National Guard through the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps at the University of Wyoming, Laramie, Wyoming. After his initial assignment as a field artillery officer in the 115th Field Artillery Brigade, Cheyenne, Wyoming, he joined the Active Guard Reserve program with an initial assignment in 1993 as an administrative officer with the 1st Battalion, 49th Field Artillery, in Sheridan, Wyoming. General Porter has completed the Dual Status Commander’s, Joint Task Force Commander’s, and the Joint Operational Fires and Effects Courses. He also served a 180-day tour at the National Guard Readiness Center in Washington, D.C., as the project officer for the functional unification of NGB (Project Chrysalis).
WYOMING OFFICE OF ADMINISTRATIVE HEARINGS
Governor Gordon has appointed Sean Chambers as the director of the Wyoming Office of Administrative Hearings. He replaces Peter Froelicher, who was appointed by Governor Matt Mead to be a District Court Judge in Wyoming’s First Judicial District in December 2018.
“Sean brings important experience in the administrative hearing process, at the Attorney General’s Office and in private practice,” Gordon said, noting how impressed he was with Chamber’s dedication to ensuring impartiality and fairness.
Chambers said, “The work of the OAH is important. I am humbled that Governor Gordon has entrusted me with the obligation to ensure the fairness and impartiality of the administrative hearing process in Wyoming.”
Chambers has been a Hearing Examiner at the Office of Administrative Hearings for seven years. In that time he has presided over hearings in nearly all areas of the OAH docket. Over his career, having previously been a Senior Assistant Attorney General and in private practice with a Cheyenne law firm, Chambers has gained extensive practice in administrative law. He has represented individuals in workers’ compensation cases, has served as general counsel to state regulatory agencies, and has presided over administrative hearings in matters originating in numerous state agencies.