Lloyd Wright

Guest Author

Lloyd Wright grew up on a family-owned soybean, corn, and wheat farm in southeast Virginia. He served for 37 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), including as the Director of the USDA Office of Civil Rights from 1997 to 1998. Prior to this position, he was Director of the Conservation Operations Division in the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). He also served as Director of the Community Assistance Resource Development Division and the Watershed Protection Division in NRCS. He is the principal author of the USDA Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) System. He came out of retirement in February 2009 to serve as an advisor to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack until May 2012. He advised the Secretary on civil rights program complaints that were filed between years 2000 through 2008 but had not been processed. Wright is a member of the Soil Conservation Society of America, American Planning Association, and the National Organization of Professional Black Natural Resources Conservation Service Employees, for which he served as the first president. He has a B.S. in Agronomy from Virginia State University, and a M.S. in Human Resources Management from State University of New York at Binghamton.