ESI - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Secretary
Adrienne Eikinas joined DEQ in March 2022 as the Executive Assistant to the Secretary.
Prior to joining DEQ, Adrienne served the state for 24 years with the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. Most recently, she worked with the Division of Parks and Recreation as the Executive Assistant to the State Parks Director.
Adrienne currently lives in Cary with her husband.
Job Titles:
- Eastern District Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Acting Environmental Regional Supervisor
- Assistant Regional Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Environmental Program Supervisor II
Job Titles:
- Western NC Local Program ( Buncombe County ) Director
Job Titles:
- Engineering Supervisor II
Bill Lane - Chief Legal Officer
Job Titles:
- Deputy Secretary
- General Counsel
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Deputy Secretary for Policy & Legal Affairs / General Counsel
Bill Lane serves as the Deputy Secretary for Policy and Legal Affairs/General Counsel. His responsibilities include strategic policy initiatives at the Department level and oversight of the Divisions of Coastal Management and Marine Fisheries and legal matters for the agency. He joined DEQ as general counsel in February 2017.
Lane is often the first point of contact in litigation, acting as the service agent for all contested cases, tort claims, and other lawsuits involving the department. He supervises the rulemaking coordination process and provides advice on new policy initiatives, legislation, contracts, conflicts of interest, and dispute resolution.
Prior to joining DEQ, Lane worked for Kilpatrick, Townsend, and Stockton in Raleigh, where he represented many business and governmental clients on issues related to energy, air quality, waste management, and water quality. Lane is known as a team-oriented counselor with substantial experience in environmental regulatory programs administered by the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Lane earned a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the University of Notre Dame, a master's degree in civil and environmental engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a law degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Carlos Velazquez, an Otomi Indian, Mechanical Engineer, recipient of the Environmental Educators of North Carolina Outstanding Partnership Award, Environmental Educator of the Year from Wake County NC and the 2011 Rosa Parks and Grace Lee Boggs Minority Environment Award. Mr. Velazquez has worked with environmental groups in Alaska and Canada and also worked in China as a project engineer, where he met with the Chinese Environmental Department. Mr. Velazquez was the first westerner to give a talk on Preserving the Environment and the Ways of China's Minorities, at Dalian University in mainland China.
Mr. Velazquez has corresponded with members of the Sustainable Development Department in the newly formed Canadian Nunavut Territory for the last 10 years while living for months in Nunavut. Mr. Velazquez was invited to learn about the lives and environmental conditions of the Inuit people, while sharing some of the work being done by state, federal, and environmental agencies to protect our own environment. In 2014 he received a fellowship from Cornell University.
In addition, Mr. Velazquez is also an organizer of many "Healing Mother Earth" activities and gatherings in places like Ocmulgee Mounds GA, Omaha Indian Reservation, Blackfoot Idaho, Raven Rock North Carolina and California.
Carolina is from Leon, Guanajuato. Mexico. She is a former DACA recipient and is currently the Public Engagement Liaison for the Department of Environmental Quality. Before her role at DEQ, she was the President for the Hispanic American Caucus of North Carolina where she helped rebuild the caucus and its auxiliaries. Carolina has always had a passion for personal connections, growth, and community engagement so she studied Psychology and Women's Studies at East Carolina University and started an on campus organization called, MyVoice to elevate the voices of women and students of color. After this, she expanded her work and outreach to serve on various campaigns across the state. This led her to attending Central Law School in North Carolina as well as interning for Senator Dan Blue. Carolina's passion for uniting communities continues and in 2018 she published her first children's book, Lupita and the Magic of Mexico to bring awareness of Mexican culture and family unity to the state. Carolina strives to encourage unity in all areas of her life and profession.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Program Supervisor I
CJ Jordan serves as DEQ's Chief of Staff. In this role, he focuses on priority initiatives and non-regulatory processes within the Department and works closely with the Chief Deputy Secretary on internal and operational support. In addition, CJ leads the Project Management Office, helping DEQ's divisions oversee federal funding initiatives under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law
Before coming to DEQ, CJ worked with the NC Office of Recovery and Resiliency, specifically with the ReBuild NC program. He brings experience leading teams focused on long-range planning, developing programs and systems to improve services, and managing complex projects end-to-end.
Job Titles:
- Regional Engineering Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Engineering Supervisor II
Job Titles:
- Marine Fisheries Biologist Supervisor
David Lambert joined DEQ in May 2022 and serves as the department's Project Liaison. David works closely with the Department of Commerce and the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina. He provides a single point of contact for large projects to ensure a whole-of-department approach as companies navigate the permitting process.
David previously served as Solid Waste Director for Moore County, as the Town Manager for the Town of Robbins, and as the Judicial Case Manager for the NC Family Court-19B. David has a Master of Public Administration from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Juris Doctorate from Elon University School of Law as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Sociology from UNC-Greensboro.
David thoroughly enjoys traveling, singing karaoke, and discovering local coffee shops.
Job Titles:
- Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service
Job Titles:
- Western District Supervisor
Dr. Danelle Lobdell is an epidemiologist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the Office of Research and Development. She received her M.S. in Natural Sciences and her Ph.D. in Epidemiology and Community Medicine from the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Dr. Lobdell's current research involves the development of environmental public health indicators that can be tracked overtime.
She leads the team that created the publicly available Environmental Quality Index (EQI) 2000-2005 for all counties in the U.S. The EQI has been used to explore how environmental quality affects health outcomes. Her research team is currently developing the EQI at the census tract level for the purpose of learning more about how various environmental factors contribute to health disparities in low-income, underrepresented minority and vulnerable populations, and to better estimate the total environmental and social context to which humans are exposed. She also has several research projects funded through the Regional Applied Research Effort that focus on the U.S. EPA's regional research needs for communities. Dr. Lobdell has a strong research interest in the area of reproductive, perinatal, and children's health outcomes.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Director of Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute
Dr. Deepak Kumar is the Director of Julius L. Chambers Biomedical Biotechnology Research Institute (JLC-BBRI), a dedicated institute for health disparities research at North Carolina Central University (NCCU). He is also a professor of Pharmaceutical Sciences at NCCU and the PI of a U54 grant: RCMI Center for Health Disparities Research funded by National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD). In June 2020, he founded and leads the Advanced Center for COVID-19 Related Disparities (ACCORD) to address COVID-19 testing concerns, vaccine hesitancy and impact on underserved North Carolinians. He is also the PI on the recently funded Building Resiliency and Vital Equity (BRAVE) program to address COVID-19 testing concerns in American Indian population of NC. Addressing health disparities through multi-stakeholder engagement and leadership has been central to his research and administrative philosophy. Dr. Kumar also created the Health Equity, Environment and Population Health (HOPE) program at NCCU, that leverages partnerships with local health departments, community free clinics and local community-based organizations; and focuses on examining the causes of widespread health disparities in underserved populations and bringing evidence-based interventions to the community.
He is a trained molecular biologist by training with expertise in cancer biology, health disparities, genomics, epigenomics and cell signaling. He has been continuously funded by the NIH without interruption for last 16 years. He has received grants in excess of 30 million as a Principal Investigator (PI) from the National Institutes of Health (NCI, NIMHD) and private foundations. As an advocate for EJ communities, he brings extensive experience in health disparities, training underrepresented minorities, collaborative community programming as well as partnerships and program building.
Job Titles:
- Leader
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Secretary
- Secretary for Environment
- Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Elizabeth S. Biser has served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since June of 2021, when she was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper. She is the first woman confirmed to serve as DEQ Secretary.
"Elizabeth Biser is a strong leader who has experience with this environmental agency and knows its critical work in North Carolina," said Governor Cooper. "We will not waver in our commitment to protect our air, land, and water and to transition to a clean energy future, and Elizabeth will be a strong, steady leader for this agency."
In August of 2023, she was elected to serve as President of the Environmental Council of States (ECOS) the national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state and territorial environmental agency leaders.
As DEQ Secretary, she oversees the state agency whose mission is to protect North Carolina's environment and natural resources. The organization has offices from the mountains to the coast and administers regulatory and public assistance programs aimed at protecting the quality of North Carolina's air, water and land, its coastal resources and marine fisheries, and the public's health.
Secretary Biser's appointment marks a return to the Department. She previously served as Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs when the agency was known as the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. During her tenure in that position, she played a primary role in securing $134 million in funding for the design and construction of the Green Square Complex in downtown Raleigh, which includes the LEED-certified central offices for DEQ.
Biser most recently served as the President of Biser Strategies LLC. Previously, she was the Vice President of Policy and Public Affairs of the Recycling Partnership, and the Government Relations & Policy Advisor of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Job Titles:
- Regional Engineering Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Division Director Facilities Health & Safety
Job Titles:
- Regional Engineering Supervisor
James H. Johnson, Jr. is the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He holds degrees from North Carolina Central University (B.S., 1975), the University of Wisconsin at Madison (M.S., 1977), and Michigan State University (Ph.D., 1980). Prior to joining the UNC-CH faculty, Dr. Johnson was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he spent the first twelve years of his professional career.
Selected by Fast Company magazine as one of the "17 … brightest thinkers and doers in the new world of work," Dr. Johnson's current research and consulting activities focus on the workforce and workplace implications of post-1990 demographic changes in the U.S; and on how to create highly competitive and sustainable business enterprises and communities in the current era of economic uncertainty and global insecurity. His research on these and related topics has been widely cited in a number of national media outlets, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Detroit Free Press, Newsweek, Time Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, and Business Week. He has also appeared on a number of national television shows, including The Today Show on NBC, CNN Headline News, the CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, Sunday Morning on CBS, This Week in Review on NBC, and North Carolina People with William Friday.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Regional Engineer Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Division of Environmental Assistance and Customer Service Director
Job Titles:
- Commissioner
- Member of the Board
Jeff Anstead currently serves as a Commissioner on the Commission of Indian Affairs, where he is the Chair of the Commission's Environmental Justice Subcommittee. He has been on the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal Council for over nine years and is currently serving as the Vice Chief of the Tribe. He also chairs the Long Range Planning Committee and is very active at every Pow Wow. Anstead is also on the Board of Directors at the Haliwa-Saponi Tribal School.
He is the son of the late Deanna Anstead and the proud father of three girls. Jeff grew up in the Hollister, N.C. community, and he currently works for the Warren County School System.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Regional Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Environmental Program Supervisor I
Job Titles:
- Interim Chief Financial Officer
- Interim Chief Financial Officer for DEQ
Jon Griffin currently serves as the interim Chief Financial Officer for DEQ and oversees the Financial Services Division. He joined the Department in 2023 as the ARPA Financial Director in the Program Management Office to serve as lead for financial oversight and management of $2.3 billion in American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Jon has extensive financial experience on the state and local level. His previous work includes serving in multiple roles at Transylvania County, most recently as Finance Director. Previously, he was the recipient of the International City and County Management Association's Local Government Management Fellowship and served the state in roles at the University of North Carolina Asheville.
A North Carolina native, Jon earned a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina and a bachelor's degree in economics from UNC Asheville.
Job Titles:
- State Energy Office Director
Job Titles:
- United States Environmental Protection Agency at RTP / State or Federal Facilities
Kathleen Tardif was named Director of Human Resources for DEQ in April 2021. She provides leadership, oversight, and administration of the Department's human resources staff and policies. Kathleen serves as a strategic partner within DEQ leadership striving to achieve DEQ's vision, mission, and goals. She partners with the Office of State Human Resources to ensure the agency's compliance with state and federal policies and laws.
Kathleen has over 23 years of Human Resources experience. For more than half of those years, she has worked for the State of North Carolina with roles at NC State, DHHS and DEQ. Her experience spans all functional areas of Human Resources including classification and compensation, organizational development, recruitment, employee relations, equal opportunity, benefits, diversity and inclusion, training, and performance management.
A self-described 'native of the north', Kathleen relocated to Raleigh in 1990 and made it home for her family.
Job Titles:
- Division of Marine Fisheries Director
Job Titles:
- Northern District Manager
Job Titles:
- Fayetteville Regional Office
Job Titles:
- Division of Mitigation Services Director
Job Titles:
- Vice Chair of the Board
- Professor
Dr. Johnson-Thompson is Professor Emerita of Biology and Environmental Sciences at the University of the District of Columbia (UDC) and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Maternal and Child Health at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Public Health. From 1992 until her retirement in 2008, Dr. JohnsonThompson was Director, Education and Biomedical Research Development at the National institute of Environmental Health Sciences, where she developed programs that included health disparities, K-12 science education, minority PhD training programs and environmental justice (EJ) initiatives.
Dr. Johnson-Thompson was a member of the protocol committee that planned and implemented the first federal government supported environmental justice symposium, "Health Research Needs to Ensure Environmental Justice," which led to President Clinton's signing of the EJ Executive Order 12898. Dr. Johnson-Thompson's past community outreach involvements have been with local and national HBCUs, The Intercultural Cancer Council, the National Medical Association, and Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Her active memberships include the American Society for Microbiology, the American Association for Cancer Research, the American Society for Cell Biology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Society of Sigma Xi, and the National Medical Association. She currently resides in Durham and serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Howard University and a Trustee of the N.C. Environmental Defense Fund.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Partnership and Alliances Manager for the Environment Defense Fund
Marilynn Marsh-Robinson is the Partnership and Alliances Manager for the Environment Defense Fund, where she collaborates with diverse stakeholders to advance positive clean energy, social and economic sustainability, and energy efficiency. She was awarded three organizational environmental justice minigrants centered on Hispanic outreach. Marsh-Robinson also helped to secure the passage of state environmental legislation regarding swine farm regulations and energy efficiency measures.
Outside of her work, Marsh-Robinson has shown dedication to the environment and her community. She currently serves as a Planning Member of the N.C. Environmental Justice Network, a chair for the N.C. Conservation Network Board, and is a N.C. Notary Public. She has previously attended the N.C. Leadership Forum at Duke University, the Rural Economic Development Institute Leadership Program and the Donice M. Harbor Public Service Leadership Academy.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Regional Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of the Green Majority
Job Titles:
- Division of Water Resources
Job Titles:
- Division of Waste Management Director
Job Titles:
- Division Director
- Division of Air Quality Director
Job Titles:
- Environmental Program Supervisor
- Regional Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Chief Information Officer
Naeema Muhammad has worked as the Community Organizer for the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network (NCEJN) since 2001, leading state-wide efforts and supporting grassroots efforts for environmental and social justice. Since 2014, she has served as Organizing Co-Director of the NCEJN. She is also a founding member of Black Workers for Justice in N.C., a community-based organization founded in 1981 that addresses workers' rights issues.
Muhammad has worked on two National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences-funded grants: The Community Health and Environmental Reawakening project, where she served as the Community Organizer and worked with communities adjacent to industrial hog operations; and the Community Health Effects of Industrial Hog Operations project, where she worked as the Community Organizer, Environmental Justice Educator, and Interviewer, and assisted her collaborators in qualitative data analysis. She has co-authored many publications with Dr. Steve Wing of the UNC-CH School of Public Health regarding community-based participatory research, most recently published in the New Solutions Health Journal.
Randee Haven-O'Donnell is a life-long educator and heavily engaged community activist. She is a graduate of State University of New York at Stony Brook (B.S.) and Bank Street College of Education (M.S). She is a North Carolina Certified Environmental Educator and served on the Certification Committee for the N.C. Office of Environmental Education for a decade. Haven-O'Donnell is currently a Science Educator at the Durham Academy and the Academic Director and instructor at Duke Action Science Camp. Before her time at the Durham Academy, she spent over a decade with Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools as an Educator and Certified Diversity Trainer.
While Haven-O'Donnell has authored many grants and initiatives at the local and state levels, her involvement in local politics and activism in the Carrboro community is integral to her success. Haven-O'Donnell has served on the Town of Carrboro Board of Alderman since 2005 and previously served as the mayor pro tempore. She led the establishment of the Carrboro Stormwater Utility and the OWASA subcommittee to address water conservation, quality, safety, and supply concerns. In 2016, she received the El Centro Hispano Gilbertson-Clark Visionary Award. Currently, she is affiliated with the Leadership Triangle, the National and North Carolina Science Teachers Associations, and the Sierra Club.
Job Titles:
- Division of Water Resources Director
Job Titles:
- Assistant Regional Supervisor
Rodney S. Sadler, Jr. is a graduate of Howard University (1989, B.S. Psychology/Philosophy), Howard University School of Divinity (1992, M.Div.), and Duke University (2001, Ph.D. Hebrew Bible and Biblical Archaeology), and has also studied at Hebrew University (1990). He is an ordained Baptist minister who has served in pastoral supply roles at several Presbyterian congregations and as interim pastor at Mt. Carmel Baptist Church and Sardis Baptist Church in Charlotte, NC, where he resides.
Dr. Sadler has previously served on the Board of Siegel Avenue Partners and Loaves and Fishes. He currently serves as Board President of Mecklenburg Ministries and as a Board Member of the Hispanic Summer Program, the Transformative Justice Coalition, the National Election Defense Coalition, the Voting Rights Alliance, Progress N.C., and on the Executive Committee of the North Carolina NAACP. His activism includes work with Community for Creative Non-Violence in D.C., Durham C.A.N., H.E.L.P. Charlotte, the Middle East Peace Working Group, and the U.S. Africa Ebola Working Group. He also serves in leadership roles for People Demanding Action, the Justice Action Mobilization Network, the Charlotte Clergy Coalition for Justice, the Truth Reconciliation and Anti-poverty Commission, and the Faith in Solar Project.
Job Titles:
- Environmental Program Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Special Assistant to the Secretary
Job Titles:
- Engineering Supervisor II
Job Titles:
- Division of Water Infrastructure Director
Job Titles:
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Deputy Secretary for Public Affairs
Before joining DEQ in 2018, Sharon Martin worked in media in various capacities for more than two decades.
Her past experience includes writing, producing and on-air appearances for local public radio, local television news, CNN and documentary television shows.
Sharon graduated from the University of Alabama with a communications degree. After a lifetime of moving with her family around the south, she is proud to call North Carolina home.
Job Titles:
- Division of Waste Management
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Policy Director at the North Carolina Conservation Network
Sherri White-Williamson is the Environmental Justice Policy Director at the North Carolina Conservation Network (NCCN) where she focuses on incorporating consideration of environmental justice in NCCN's policy and outreach efforts. Ms. White-Williamson retired from the U. S. EPA, Office of Environmental Justice, where she served in many roles including Manager of the Interagency Working Group on Environmental Justice established under Executive Order 12898 and Designated Federal Officer to the National Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
Ms. White-Williamson is a 2018 graduate of Vermont Law School (VLS), South Royalton, VT, where she earned dual degrees, her Juris Doctor and a Masters in Energy Regulation and Law. While at VLS she co-chaired its first Environmental Justice solutions conference and co-founded the Environmental Justice Law Society. She was awarded the Marc Mihaly Environmental Leadership Award in recognition of her commitment to the environment and environmental justice.
She currently resides in Sampson County, North Carolina and co-founded a community organization, the Environmental Justice Community Action Network (EJCAN), to address community environmental justice concerns. EJCAN is working with community members to identify and resolve the issues that they have raised.
Job Titles:
- Program Administrative Assistant
Job Titles:
- DEQ 's Director of Legislative Affairs
- Director of Legislative Affairs
Shrikar Nunna serves as DEQ's Director of Legislative Affairs. He joined DEQ in 2018 and previously served on the Department's legislative affairs team, and has held roles as a Special Assistant and a Senior Advisor to Secretary Biser.
Shrikar began his career at DEQ as a legislative affairs intern and now serves as an appointee to the North Carolina Internship Council.
He graduated from NC State University with a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering.
Job Titles:
- Engineering Supervisor II
Job Titles:
- Assistant Secretary
- Member of the Leadership Team
- Assistant Secretary for Environment
- DEQ As a Permit Engineer
Sushma Masemore was named Assistant Secretary for Environment in May of 2021. She guides DEQ's regulatory divisions through the complex issues facing North Carolina and brings more than 30 years of public and private sector experience to the role.
Masemore oversees the development and implementation of major policy initiatives for programs such as: permitting of discharges to surface waters; issuance of air emissions permits; grant programs for wastewater and drinking water projects; remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, permitting of coastal development; and regulation of animal operations, mining operations, and energy development projects.
As the State Energy Director, Masemore led statewide initiatives related to energy and climate change, including the development of the NC Clean Energy Plan and Risk Assessment and Resilience Plan.
Masemore joined DEQ as a permit engineer and has managed teams of engineers and scientists through program design, standards development, and implementation phases. Her private sector experience includes building partnerships with technology developers, industry representatives, and government officials to collaborate on environmental solutions that made good business sense while protecting public health.
Masemore earned a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from University of Maryland Baltimore County, and is a licensed Professional Engineer in North Carolina.
Job Titles:
- Engineering Supervisor II
Job Titles:
- Division of Coastal Management Director
Job Titles:
- Environmental Program Supervisor I
Job Titles:
- Assistant Regional Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Environmental Regional Supervisor
Job Titles:
- Chief
- Deputy Secretary
- Member of the Leadership Team
- DEQ As Chief Deputy Secretary
Timothy Watkins joined DEQ as Chief Deputy Secretary in June of 2022. He oversees operational aspects of the organization and brings more than 30 years of experience in the federal government.
Tim joined DEQ from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, where he served in the EPA's Office of Research and Development as the Director of the Center for Environmental Measurement and Modeling. He has also served as National Program Director for the Sustainable and Healthy Communities Research Program, Director of the Center for Public Health and Environmental Assessment, Director for the National Exposure Research Laboratory, and Deputy National Program Director for the Air Climate and Energy Research Program. In addition, he served on the EPA's Council on PFAS.
His roles involved leading and managing diverse groups of scientists and administrative professionals working to protect human health and the environment. Throughout his career, Tim has focused on building and supporting collaborative relationships with EPA's internal and external stakeholders.
Tim holds a Master's Degree in Economics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a B.A. in Economics and Mathematics from Rollins College.
Job Titles:
- Division of Energy, Mineral & Land Resources Director ( Interim )
- Division of Energy, Mineral and Land Resources
Job Titles:
- Assistant Regional Supervisor
Veronica Carter is a former national and international civil servant and retired Army officer. As a U.S. employee, Carter served as the Director of Administration and Logistics for Military Ocean Terminal, Sunny Point, and as an international civil servant at the United Nations Headquarters, Carter worked as a Logistics Officer in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations. Before retiring from the Army, Carter served as a Professor of Military Science and Department Chair for Military Science (Army ROTC) under Fordham University's College of Business Administration. She also provided instruction as Adjunct Professor at Fordham University and New York University's (NYU) School of Continuing and Professional Studies.
As a volunteer, Carter designed, developed, and conducted training for a comprehensive social service agency specializing in empowering homeless women with offices throughout New York City. In 2008, Carter was appointed to the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission by the Governor, and she has served on the Board of Directors for Habitat for Humanity of Cape Fear and Brunswick Counties. She currently serves on the N.C. Coastal Federation Board of Directors, where she pursues her passion of ensuring environmental justice for all communities.
William Barber III is a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina School of Law, where he received the Kenan Scholarship. At North Carolina Central University, he was the first and only student to successfully graduate with the Environmental Science, Environmental Physics Concentration B.S. degree. Barber worked as a Legal Intern for Clean Energy Works in Washington, D.C., where he collaborated with Southern Environmental Law Center, Clean Energy Works, and NCAAP leadership to comprehensively review and present the PAYS inclusive financing program. He also worked as a Research Assistant for the Center for Climate, Energy, and Economics at the UNC School of Law and as a Graduate Research Assistant for Clean Water for North Carolina, focusing on natural gas pipelines.
Barber spent several years working for the North Carolina NAACP State Conference as a Field Secretary and a Moral Freedom Summer Youth and College Liaison. In 2015, Barber was the Keynote Speaker for the North Carolina Environmental Justice Network Summit. Barber was the President of North Carolina Central University's chapter of NAACP, and received the NCCU Certificate of Recognition upon his graduation in 2013.
Job Titles:
- Local Program ( Forsyth County ) Director
Job Titles:
- Engineering Supervisor II