Tom Lang is the Founder and CEO of Lang Conservation Partners, an organization which specializes in developing strategic, mutually beneficial partnerships among conservation organizations, industry leaders, foundations, and private individuals to advance fisheries
conservation, stewardship, and the future of fishing. Prior to forming Lang Conservation Partners, he served state fish and wildlife agencies for nearly two decades. In his time at Texas Parks and Wildlife he served as Outreach Director for the Inland Fisheries Division, Director of the
Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center in Athens, and as the fisheries biologist in Wichita Falls. At TPWD he provided leadership for statewide outreach programs, including the Toyota ShareLunker Program and Texas Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. At Kansas Wildlife and Parks, Tom served as the statewide Fisheries Programs Specialist where he coordinated the Community Fisheries Assistance, Walk-In Fishing, and Fish KS Angler Education programs.

Tom spent his formative years in Louisville, Kentucky where the mighty Ohio River and nearby
Rough River Lake began his fascination with fishing and fisheries resources. Tom is a graduate
of Purdue University where he majored in Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, with minors in
Communication and History and he is also a graduate of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff
where he earned a Master of Science in Aquaculture/Fisheries. Tom’s research at UAPB
focused on evaluating the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Family and Community
Fishing and Fishing Derby programs.

Tom is an accomplished author in the fisheries field having written numerous manuscripts, and contributed to multiple book projects including, most notably, developing and co-editing two American Fisheries Society books titled “Urban and Community Fisheries Programs; Development, Management, and Evaluation” and “Angler Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation: The Future of Fisheries and Aquatic Conservation.” Tom routinely organizes symposia and delivers presentations on a host of pertinent topics in the fisheries field. He recently co-authored two manuscripts on ShareLunker Bass and co-organized an international symposium on Black Bass.

He has been tremendously active in serving the largest and oldest society of professional
fisheries scientists, the American Fisheries Society. He served on the Society’s Governing
Board, has served on and chaired numerous Society level committees, is a past-President of
both the AFS Socioeconomics Section and the AFS Fish Habitat Section. Tom is also a past-
President of the Aquatic Resources Education Association, has served on the National Fish
Habitat Partnership board, and the board of Fishing’s Future.

Tom has been the recipient of many honors but most notably were being selected in the first
class of “Friend of Reservoirs” by the Reservoir Fish Habitat Partnership and receiving the
American Fisheries Society’s Meritorious Service Award. However, Tom says that his greatest
and most rewarding accomplishments are being a good husband to his wife and a good father to his four amazing children: Hunter, River, Fisher, and Meadow.