John Hiers
John Hiers
Program Manager
john.hiers@ag.tamu.edu (229) 560-8861Kevin serves as the Department of Defense Program Manager for Resource Conservation and Resilience for two innovation programs: the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). As program manager, he is responsible for identifying strategic research needs to support conservation, climate adaptation, environmental security, ecosystem management, and wildland fire management on DOD installations. Through ESTCP, the resource conservation program helps to transition emerging technology and tools to natural resource management applications through testing and evaluation. His duties include financial oversight, program planning and administration, staff supervision, and policy and technical review. He engages with interagency research organizations, academic institutions, and NGO partnerships to identify research priorities and emerging technology. He represents the DoD SERDP & ESTCP as well as interagency working groups and technical committees. His research and technology portfolio contains more than 75 projects across the Unites States and Pacific Islands. He coordinates with key partners within the Office of Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Environment and Energy Resilience, including the Legacy Program, Climate Resilience, and Wildland Fire Program.
Kevin brings nearly 30 years of experience at the interface of natural resource management and science. His academic and management background have focused on fire ecology, conservation of threatened and endangered species, and the science support of prescribed fire modeling to meet ecosystem management objectives. His management experience has included fire ecologist, prescribed fire program manager, and wildland fire program manager at Eglin AFB, and he was a state fire program manager with The Nature Conservancy from 2004-2006. His research appointments have included private sector positions at Tall Timbers Research Station and The Jones Ecological Research Center. He most recently served as Deputy Wildland Fire Science Coordinator for the U.S. Geological Survey.
He earned his undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies at the University of the South: Sewanee, and he received his Master’s degree in Conservation Ecology from the University of Georgia in 1999.
Kevin and his wife Stephanie live in Thomasville, GA. In his spare time, Kevin enjoys woodworking, volunteering in the community, working family timberland, and assisting with prescribed burning in the region.