House Speaker Brian Evans appoints Duncan Baird to Ethics Commission

Arkansas House Speaker Brian Evans, R-Cabot, named former State Representative Duncan Baird of Bentonville to serve on the Arkansas Ethics Commission. Baird will serve a five-year term replacing Scott Irby, whose term has expired.

Baird is a director of Benefits and Wellbeing at Walmart Inc. He was executive director of the Arkansas Public Employees’ Retirement System from April 2019 to April 2022. From June 2015 to March 2019, he was state budget administrator. He was the budget director for Gov. Asa Hutchinson from November 2014 to June 2015.

Baird served in the House from 2009 to 2014 and served his last term as co-chair of the Joint Budget Committee.

“I’ve come to know Duncan as a person of unwavering integrity and a deep commitment to fairness and accountability,” said Evans. “His dedication to transparency will serve the Ethics Commission well.”

The Arkansas Ethics Commission was established in 1991 as a result of the voters’ approval of Initiated Act 1 of 1990.

The commission is made up of five members who serve five-year staggered terms and are appointed by the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, the Attorney General, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House, respectively.