Election Candidates 2019

Tom Fox is a Senior Biologist with CALYX Engineers and Consultants – An NV5 Company, where he has worked since July 2018. In his new role, Tom conducts fish and freshwater mussel surveys targeting threatened and endangered species throughout North Carolina. For the previous 4 years, he focused his efforts on bolstering rare mussel populations and updating the status of several fish and mussel species across five river basins in northeastern North Carolina while he served as the Eastern Region Aquatic Wildlife Diversity Biologist with the NCWRC. Throughout the years, Tom has held several positions with NCWRC and NC State University, including District 3 Assistant Fisheries Biologist, Research Associate, Lab Manager, and Creel Clerk.
He received his B.S. in Biology from George Washington University and M.S. in Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology from North Carolina State University. Tom has been an NCAFS member since 2010 and has served on the program committee and as a presentation judge in past chapter meetings. In his free time, Tom enjoys fishing, hiking, and camping with his wife and dog.

A native of Roanoke Rapids, NC, Ben grew up on his family’s farm hunting and fishing. It was his love for fishing that drove him to a career in fisheries management. Ben was fascinated by anadromous fish and their migration patterns at an early age. After earning a degree in education from NC State, he went to Auburn University for a Masters in Fisheries. After graduation Ben took a job with Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater fisheries for a few years before moving back to NC. He started with the Commission in District 1. It was an amazing experience being the biologist over all the waters he grew up fishing. Now Ben is the District 2 Fisheries Biologist. He lives north of New Bern with his amazing wife Heidi. They attend Two Rivers Church and are active there. Ben fishes or hunts nearly all his time off. His family still has a farm in Northampton County where they are very active in wildlife habitat management and have won several stewardship awards. When not working he is at the farm or fishing. Ben is also a USCG certified captain. He fishes tournaments for Redfish, Spotted Sea Trout, Flounder, and Striped Bass. Ben is very passionate about natural resources conservation and enjoys his career.