Katherine Andrews was named by Secretary Stacy Hurst as director of the Office of Outdoor Recreation in November 2021. In this role, she is responsible for leading efforts to grow Arkansas’s outdoor recreation economy by leveraging the state’s natural assets. Andrews began her career in commercial real estate, then moved into public service in 2016. She worked for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission as director of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Development Division and previously as a project manager in the Business Development Division. She holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Arkansas and is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma’s Economic Development Institute.