Former Wal-Mart exec named to Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

Bobby Martin of Rogers, a former Wal-Mart executive, was appointed to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Thursday by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Martin will serve a seven-year term and replaces Emon Mahony, who was appointed to the commission in 2009 by former Ark. Gov. Mike Beebe.

Martin is CEO of Mcon Management Services, a consulting firm, and is operating partner with the Stephens Group. The graduate of Little Rock Central High became chief information officer of Walmart and was president and CEO of Wal-Mart International. He has served on the board of Dillard’s and serves on the board of Gap.

He has served as chairman of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation, the commission’s fundraising auxiliary.

“I don’t believe there’s a more important appointment I make as the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission,” Hutchinson said during the announcement. “It is part of the lifeblood of Arkansas, part of our culture, part of our heritage, and certainly a huge part of our economy.”

He said Martin appreciates the need for public access to hunting and fishing opportunities as well as the role of science, which Hutchinson said was critical as the state attempts to respond to the spread of chronic wasting disease, a neurological ailment affecting deer.

Martin in an interview said his love of the outdoors began when he was nine years old when his father carried him across a rice field while duck hunting in Fair Oaks near Wynne. He has since become an avid hunter and fisherman.

“A story that my family always tells on me is I actually ordered a rabbit hunting dog without telling my parents until it got delivered here at the bus station,” he said.

Martin described himself as an advocate for youth outdoors activities. He said he has been impressed with the commission’s success with promoting shooting sports in schools.

“You have to acknowledge that sportsmen are the single biggest way that we fund our conservation and preservation of our resource, and so having that next generation to have the choice to get outdoors and to enjoy the kind of things that I did as a young child and growing up, that’s something I’m passionate about,” he said.

Hutchinson said “well over” 20 people sought the appointment.

Martin is Hutchinson’s second appointment to the commission. The first was Joe Morgan of Little Rock.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has for more than 100 years managed the protection, conservation and preservation of various species of fish and wildlife in Arkansas. Part of that role includes habitat management, fish stocking, hunting and fishing regulations, and various forms of game management. In November 1996, Arkansas voters approved Amendment 75, which now provides about $26 million each year to support wildlife protection and management in Arkansas.