Dr. Hillsman is a native of West Tennessee and raised on a small family farm in Carroll County. He began his career with the USDA Soil Conservation Service in 1992, as a student trainee, while majoring in Agriculture at Tennessee State University. During his 32 years with the, now, Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), he has worked as a soil conservationist, state outreach coordinator, and nine years as district conservationist, all in the state of Tennessee. In 2012, he was selected to be the assistant state conservationist for field operations in Massachusetts and served in this position until being named state conservationist for Maryland in 2015. Most recently, he joined the Senior Executive Service (SES), and was selected to be NRCS’ Director of the Ecological Sciences Division, which is responsible for the development, and maintenance, of the National Conservation Practice Standards and Plant Materials Program.

In addition to earning his Bachelor of Science in agriculture from TSU, Dr. Hillsman also earned a Master of Arts in organizational management from Tusculum College and a Ph.D. in business administration from the University of Tennessee. Since 2007, he has been an adjunct faculty member in the Business and Management Departments of several colleges and universities teaching courses in organizational behavior, management, and leadership. Currently, he maintains an adjunct faculty appointment at Carson-Newman University in the MBA program. His publications include journal articles and research papers related to training transfer and employee development.

In his spare time, he enjoys outdoor activities such as cycling and hunting. He and his wife, Natasha, have an 18-year-old son, Donovan.