Why Dr. Tom Mullikin is the perfect choice to lead SCDNR into the future
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
More than two years ago, I wrote a piece, UNASSAILABLE GREATNESS, about a man whose remarkably exceptional career has not only been one for the books, but has only been achieved by a unique mix of carrying everyone with him over the goal-line, protecting (and quite literally preserving the lives of) those he has encountered along the way, and refusing the oft-daunting challenges and obstacles presented along his trek since childhood. Again, the man I am speaking of is Dr. Tom Mullikin.
I say “again” because this is not the first time I’ve written a piece like this about Dr. Mullikin (aka Major General Mullikin), nor I doubt will it be my last. Why? Because every time I think he has achieved the last of his truly mountainous feats – that there are no more mountains left to climb – he is summiting yet another. And he has climbed many mountains both figuratively and literally which we’ll get to momentarily.
To the point of this piece: Last month, the seven-member South Carolina Natural Resources Board unanimously selected Mullikin to lead the S.C. Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) as SCDNR’s next director. The board’s selection is awaiting S.C. Senate Confirmation in early 2025.
Mullikin was Governor Henry McMaster’s pick (McMaster also selected Mullikin to chair his S.C. Floodwater Commission in 2018 following Mullikin’s retirement as two-star commanding general of the S.C. State Guard), and Mullikin seems to be the people’s overwhelming choice to direct SCDNR going forward.
“There simply could not be a better choice for SCDNR director than Tom Mullikin,” said Dana Beach, founder and director emeritus of the South Carolina Coastal Conservation League, during a telephone interview earlier this month.
Why? “Because unless we protect land here in South Carolina when it’s available, it’s not going to be here,” said Beach. “The opportunity will vanish, and Tom Mullikin fully understands this.”
According to Beach: “Tom understands the urgency and the permanence of this work. He understands and is a champion of land conservation – not only in the preservation of habitat for hunting [of which he is a huge supporter and a lifelong sportsman] – but in protecting watersheds, protecting clean water, addressing climate change issues, and providing recreational opportunities for people living in communities hemmed in by growth.”
Beach adds: “Gov. McMaster has been a strong supporter of this, and he wants to see half the state protected. Tom Mullikin is of the same mind.”
This is likely one of the reasons Mullikin was chosen. Perhaps the primary reason.
Beach contends that with Mullikin at the helm, SCDNR will experience a veritable “sea change” that really “harkens back to the founding of the modern conservation movement here in South Carolina. We set the standard for the nation in the 1980s and 1990s and we will continue to set that standard under Tom.”
Dr. Geoff Scott, clinical professor and chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at the Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, agrees.
“Tom is an excellent selection for this most important position,” said Scott. “As with his vast knowledge as an environmentalist and conservationist as well as his keen understanding of the importance of South Carolina’s natural resources, he will mesh well with the outstanding scientists, researchers and conservation officers within SCDNR to continue their tradition of conserving and protecting South Carolina’s natural resources. Tom will also continue the superb tradition of outstanding leadership within the agency provided by the previous SCDNR directors over the past 50 years or so.”
Executive leadership is not new to Mullikin, though this will be his first cabinet-level directorship. An attorney, university professor, former U.S. Army officer, retired State Guard commander and Floodwater Commission chair, Mullikin is perhaps best known for his leadership of the annual SOUTH CAROLINA SEVEN (SC7) Expedition from the mountains to sea, and his overall command of numerous arduous expeditions to every continent on Earth, climbing four of the world’s Seven Great Summits, and leading SCUBA-diving excursions in all Earth’s five oceans, many seas, and other remote waterways.
A world-renowned explorer, Mullikin has served as a “National Geographic Expert.” He is a Fellow in the famed Manhattan-based Explorer’s Club and a Fellow in London’s Royal Geographical Society. We mentioned the four mountains summited of the Seven Great Summits. But that doesn’t begin to tell the story as he has reached the summits of more than 20 mountains around the globe.
Back home in S.C. where he has fought to preserve vast tracts of wilderness-backcountry – successfully so – and where Gov. McMaster also appointed him to the board of the S.C. Conservation Bank; Mullikin has striven to create greater public awareness of the environment. And he has tangibly aided the scientific community in his leadership (often with retired and former U.S. military special operators) of SMART REEF technology and SMART REEF installation off the S.C. coast.
Beyond his sterling stewardship of the environment and in terms of his responsible suitability to lead SCDNR into the future, Mullikin is, as I’ve mentioned, an accomplished sportsman – hunting, sport shooting, fishing, and his support, sponsorship of and work with the Carolina Cup Racing Association (we already mentioned the hiking, diving, and climbing) – who has championed best game management practices and principles his entire adult life.
A veteran, a staunch supporter of the military (particularly within the various special operations communities), an apolitical environmental champion and a lifelong outdoorsman, Mullikin is also a law enforcement leader and a longtime law-enforcement supporter who is a formerly certified S.C. State Constable, a special deputy with the Richland County Sheriff’s Department (RCSD), and a former member of RCSD’s Waterborne Operations Team (Marine Patrol and Dive Team).
There frankly is no finer, more experienced leader, nor greater man of integrity than Tom Mullikin. I earlier mentioned his childhood and the herculean challenges he faced in his earliest years. Mullikin was born with severely deformed feet, and was told he would never walk. But his parents refused that proverbial “life sentence.” So walk he did, even run becoming a high school athlete (tennis), later a basketball coach, a U.S. Army master fitness instructor, and a martial artist ultimately earning an induction into the elite S.C. BLACK BELT HALL OF FAME.
Mullikin also worked as a very young man for U.S. Sen. Ernest F. Hollings. And it was while working in Hollings’ Columbia office that Mullikin literally saved another man’s life.
According to an article, “Peak Performance,” in the Winter 2017 edition of CAROLINIAN magazine: “His [Mullikin’s] never-met-a-stranger personality proved more than merely charming. While working in Columbia’s federal building, Mullikin reached out to a suicidal man who was about to leap from the building’s 15th floor. A legislative resolution later commended Mullikin’s “quick reflexes and soothing manner” in helping to pull the individual to safety.”
There’s so much more I could say about Tom Mullikin, who he is, what he has accomplished, and why there is no other choice for SCDNR and for the citizens of South Carolina. It’s all been said before with accolades – what we used to refer to as “glittering generalities” in journalism – and lofty praise from at least two living recipients of the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for combat valor.
One of them, retired U.S. Marine Maj. Gen. James E. Livingston, said: “Tom Mullikin, and those like him who have climbed many of the world’s great summits, is a model of perseverance.”
In a close parallel to Gen. Livingston’s remarks, the late founder and first commanding officer of SEAL Team Six (aka DEVGRU) Richard Marcinko, once said: “Men like Tom are the kind of men who push the envelope beyond normal human endurance to achieve life’s great summits.”
A life well-lived. “But there is so much more to do,” said Mullikin while ringing the bells for the Salvation Army in Camden last week. “There is a huge conversation to be had for all of us, a lot of sunshine in front of us, and I’m eager to get started on all of it.”
Mullikin is a devoted husband, father, and grandfather who has involved his family – and welcomed others with open arms – in nearly all of his adventures.
The Senate confirmation hearing is slated for late January.
– W. Thomas Smith Jr. is a formerly deployed U.S. Marine infantry leader and a New York Times bestselling editor. Visit him at http://uswriter.com.
