Dr. Benjamin Tuggle, Southwest Regional Director. Photo: USFWS. Kim Jew Studios

Dr. Benjamin N. Tuggle is the Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s (Service) Southwest Region. He began his distinguished career with the Service in 1979 at the National Health Research Center in Madison, WI. Since then he has served in key leadership positions throughout the nation, including field experience and time in the agency’s Washington, DC headquarters office.

Dr. Tuggle holds a B.S. in Biology from Fort Valley State University, Fort Valley, GA (1975); and advanced degrees in Zoology from The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH (M.S., 1977 and Ph.D., 1982). Dr. Tuggle’s academic pursuits and efforts have produced a total of 18 publications in eight referred scientific journals and three chapters in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Resource Publication.

Numerous environmental issues of national significance fall under Dr. Tuggle’s direction. His responsibilities include: endangered species, migratory birds and fisheries and aquatic resources oversight; National Wildlife Refuge administration; water resource development; applied science decisions; wetland and upland habitat protection and mitigation; habitat conservation, restoration and acquisition; endangered species; energy development; National Wetlands Inventory mapping activities; Coastal Barrier Resources Act; conservation efforts on military installations; marine mammal protection; International wildlife conservation; and other related conservation issues that impact fish and wildlife resources.

Since beginning his tenure as the Service’s Southwest Regional Director in 2005, Dr. Tuggle has successfully directed some of the nation’s most complex and controversial issues in natural resources management. He has effectively overseen conservation issues along the U.S./Mexico border; created the Wolf-Livestock Interdiction Program for the Mexican gray wolf; and established three new National Wildlife Refuges –including the first urban National Wildlife Refuge in the Southwest. In addition, he has developed and implemented cooperative conservation on public and private lands; worked with wind energy development to promote the Service’s conservation mission, and effectively coordinated with the many middle Rio Grande stakeholders to resolve complex water issues.

As Southwest Regional Director, Dr. Tuggle has spear-headed conservation efforts for a variety of controversial species protection initiatives including: the Rio Grande silvery minnow, the Southwest willow flycatcher, the Mexican gray wolf, the dunes sagebrush lizard, the lesser prairie-chicken, and the humpback chub.

Dr. Tuggle works extensively in a collaborative manner with other federal, state and local resource agencies; Native American tribes; the private sector; and non-governmental environmental groups in order to accomplish goals and objectives that promote fish and wildlife conservation. He has maintained this collaborative, productive and positive interaction within FWS, and with its partners, throughout his career with the Service. His precedent-setting partnership efforts have included protecting potentially listed species through conservation agreements with private landowners and industry; establishing tribal eagle aviaries and non-eagle feather repositories to support Native American religious and cultural activities; and working with private land owners to provide wildlife and water conservation on private lands.

Joy Nicholopoulos , Southwest Deputy Regional Director. Photo: USFWS. Kim Jew Studios.

Joy Nicholopoulos is the Deputy Regional Director for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Southwest Region. As Deputy Regional Director, Joy's primary duties will be helping all of the Service's programs accomplish our Region's priorities. Joy's focus will be on the dedicated team of employees who make up the Southwest Region. Joy is very interested in recruitment and retention of Service employees and will stay actively involved in the many programs and processes that complete our Regional goals in those areas.

Joy started her career with the Service as a Co-op Student (now called the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP)) in the Southwest Regional Office in 1992 working on the Mexican Wolf Recovery Program. During that time, she was involved in the Regional Listing and Consultation Programs and completed developmental assignments in the Washington Office in the Listing Program. After completing her doctorate degree at New Mexico State University in 1996, Joy transferred to the Washington Office and later served as Branch Chief for the Listing and Candidate Conservation Branch. She next served as the Project Leader for the New Mexico Field Office and was later named the New Mexico State Administrator. In 2005, Joy transferred to Texas to become the Texas State Administrator and in late 2008, Joy was honored to be selected for the Department of the Interior's Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Program. She graduated from that Program in June 2010. Prior to joining the Service, Joy held a variety of jobs, including positions with Texas A&M University, the University of Texas at El Paso, Fort Bliss Military Reservation, and Trident Seafoods Alaska Fleet. Joy earned a PhD. in biology and completed her dissertation on bald eagles in New Mexico. She also holds a MS in biology (completing her thesis on shorebird ecology) and has a BS in biology. She has been published in a variety of scientific and other publications and is active in a number of professional organizations. Joy grew up in El Paso, Texas, where most of her family still resides and she can be found hiking and biking the great outdoors of New Mexico, looking for fossils, kayaking, and birdwatching in all of her old haunts.

	Aaron Archibeque	Chief, Southwest Region Refuge Wildlife System Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6842
	Beth Britt	Assistant Regional Director, External Affairs Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6285
	Nicholas Chavez	Special Agent in Charge, Southwest Region Law Enforcement
	Scott Carleton	Chief, Southwest Region Migratory Birds Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6878
	Stewart Jacks	Assistant Regional Director, Fish and Aquatic Conservation Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6882
	David Mendias	Assistant Regional Director, Budget and Administration Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6929
	James Broska	Assistant Regional Director, Science Applications Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6277
	Ted Koch	Assistant Regional Director, Ecological Services Regional Office 500 Gold Avenue, SW Albuquerque, NM 87102 505-248-6644