J.J. Goicoechea, DVM, is a native Nevadan, having been raised in Eureka. He attended the University of Nevada before earning his professional degree as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from Colorado State University. Dr. Goicoechea spent more than twenty years practicing Veterinary Medicine across four states, but predominantly in central Nevada. Before being named Director of the Nevada Department of Agriculture in 2023, he served as the Deputy Administrator of the Animal Industry Division as well as the State Veterinarian. Previously, he served as the Chairman of the Eureka County Board of Commissioners, Chairman of the Nevada Sagebrush Ecosystem Council, President of the Nevada Veterinary Medical Association, and a member of the Public Lands Council and the NCBA Executive Committee, serving as Region 6 Vice President. When he is not on the job furthering NDA’s mission to “preserve, protect and promote Nevada Agriculture,” Dr. Goicoechea can be found on his family’s fourth-generation commercial cow-calf ranch in White Pine and Elko Counties with his wife and two daughters, happily bringing up the fifth generation of ranchers.