Texas Board of Criminal Justice Selects New Prisons Chief

Second-in-command Bryan Collier will be the next executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, taking the reins at an agency that oversees more than 100 prisons and nearly 40,000 employees, the agency's governing board announced Friday.

Collier, the agency's deputy executive director, will replace Executive Director Brad Livingston, who has led the agency since 2004.

Collier began his tenure with the department as a clerk, correctional officer and parole officer before moving up the ranks, according to his biography on the agency's website. He's been with the agency for more than 30 years. He will take over for Livingston starting Aug. 1.

As executive director, Collier will lead nearly 40,000 employees, manage a $3 billion annual budget, direct more than 100 prisons with nearly 150,000 inmates and oversee the nation's busiest execution chamber. The incoming prisons chief also will take over an agency that is struggling to recruit and retain employees, maintain aging facilities and keep contraband out of inmates' hands.

Livingston joined the department in 1997 as deputy director of the financial services division. In 2001, he became the chief financial officer. As of February, his salary as executive director was $266,500.