Bobby Hugh Fletcher, Jr., BS 1986

Director of the Weights and Measures Division, Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry

Dr. Bobby Fletcher serves as Director of the Division of Weights and Measures with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. This Division regulates commerce and trade throughout the state, ensuring that equity prevails for both buyers and sellers by inspecting over 100,000 commercial weighing, measuring, metering and scanning devices. Originally from Covington, LA, Bobby was very involved in 4H as a child and originally pursued a degree in Animal Science. He graduated from with a B.A. in Agri Business and credits Southeastern as broadening his horizons. Bobby currently resides in Baton Rouge.

 

Fletcher in Hawaii

Learn more about Bobby:

Is there one thing or iconic place on campus that reminds you of your time spent at Southeastern?

Wilson Hall was where the agriculture department was housed and Dr. A.D. Owings was the department head at the time. Many of the ag students would hang out there to study, take classes as well as develop relationships plus plan ag related events. I spent many hours and made many very good friends in that building through our classes, studying as well as preparing for the annual rodeo at Cefalu coliseum. I remember watching the Harlem Globetrotters play there when I was in junior high school.

What is your fondest Southeastern memory?

I remember getting a HiHo BBQ sandwich and a root beer supported by BBQ potato chips at the old location at the corner of Morrison Blvd. and West Thomas. Miss Celeste was the server there and the sandwiches were 75 cents each. I spent many a day at HiHo enjoying their BBQ sandwiches, beef with cheese, extra sauce please!

Did a Southeastern professor inspire you? Who was that and how was that person inspirational?

It is hard to name just one so I will name a few: Dr. Wascom taught botany and he really liked us Ag students for some reason. He was always mentioning us in class and made us feel at home.

Dr. James Dunn taught Animal Husbandry and Genetics in the Ag Department and he was such a cool guy. He was a University of Georgia graduate and we both showed pigs in 4-H/FFA in our younger years. He was always supportive of our academic as well as outside school activities that we participated in.

Dr. A.D Owings was our agriculture department head and he taught me agriculture economics and crop production. I remember walking down to railroad tracks in Hammond looking for grain crops growing that had leaked out of railroad cars. That was the first time I recall seeing wheat and rice growing since we did not grow those crops in southeast Louisiana. He was a very patient professor and truly cared about his students as well as the agriculture department at SLU!

How did your Southeastern degree prepare you for success in your career?

I feel it is all about the relationships you make throughout college and beyond and Southeastern helped me in that arena for sure. I am still connected to several of my classmates and worked with numerous during my Land Grant tenure. I met many in my agriculture-based classes at Wilson Hall and was able to expand and enhance my speaking ability in all my marketing classes that required a presentation in each class. Those were tough but they helped me overcome a fear of speaking in public for sure. The latter has helped me almost every day throughout my career whether it was translating research based information to layman's terms for clientele or doing radio and tv programs.

Has something about your Southeastern education surprised you since graduating?

I feel that the personal as well as academic lessons that I learned at Southeastern have really supported my success in my professional career. The relationships that were developed there have helped me for nearly 35 years and I continue to communicate with my classmates through my field of work and beyond.

What advice would you give to a driven college student about to enter the "real world"?

My advice would be to have a genuine and driven work ethic but do your best to maintain a good personal and professional balance. Having what I call “grit” and striving to pay your dues will go a long way in navigating through a career as well as developing trust and confidence from those whom you work with. I can train someone on how to do the job but I will take grit and determination when onboarding new employees. Grit and determination cannot be taught and are inherent traits that are required for success!

What do you enjoy doing in your free time?

I love the outdoors, gardening, spending time at the camp and getting away from the rat race with family and or friends. Taking some time each day to connect on a spiritual level is also very important. Trying to keep out as much clutter from your mind and day is something that I find enjoyable as well as helpful.

Do you have a fun or interesting fact that you would like to share about yourself?

I am somewhat of a locavore and love growing fruits and vegetables in a moderate sized garden and orchard for home consumption as well as sourcing other produce and protein from local producers. I also end up bartering some of the local products for other items as well. Bartering is the new buying and I think it is here to stay!