Ginger Torres, State Executive Director

Ginger Sykes Torres was appointed by the Biden Administration to serve as the State Executive Director of the USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) in Arizona in October 2022.

Sykes Torres is a certified environmental planner and a civic leader. She previously worked as a consultant on land use planning and environmental impact assessment for developers and Federal land management agencies on projects in Arizona and New Mexico. At Pacific Gas and Electric Company, she worked with California stakeholders on environmental policy, renewable energy planning, water resources planning, and climate adaptation initiatives.

Sykes Torres served as Vice Chair of the City of Phoenix Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission, Chair of the City’s Urban Heat Island Tree and Shade Subcommittee, and also served on the Executive Committee of the City of Phoenix proposed $500 million 2023 General Obligation Bond Program, which will shape investments in projects that reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions and make the city more climate resilient.

Additionally, Sykes Torres is a Trustee at the Heard Museum, serving as the Board Secretary and a member of the American Indian Advisory Committee. She also serves on the board of directors for the Ronald McDonald House Charities, Valley Leadership, and the Indigenous Peoples’ Initiative, which worked with the White House to recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day.

Sykes Torres is a graduate of Stanford University’s interdisciplinary Earth Systems Program.

She is a passionate advocate for issues affecting Tribal communities. In March of 2020, she cofounded a COVID relief group to deliver PPE to frontline workers and vulnerable Native American communities in Arizona. She is a Native American hoop dancer who was the first female to ever win a title at the Heard Museum’s World Championship Hoop Dance Contest. Sykes Torres started a program in partnership with Ballet Arizona to offer free hoop dance lessons for urban Native American youth and was instrumental in the creation of Ballet Arizona’s Tribal Nations Advisory Council.

Sykes Torres was born in Tuba City, Arizona, and is a citizen of the Navajo Nation. Sykes Torres and her husband Javier have three young children and live in central Phoenix. Her family home has a small vegetable garden as well as dozens of fruit and nut trees.