Cooper Names Cabinet Secretaries to Lead Commerce, Administration | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Press Release:

More cabinet leaders to be named later this week

    RALEIGH, NC: Governor Roy Cooper named leaders to head the departments of Commerce and Administration Thursday as he builds his team to lead North Carolina for the next four years.

    As secretary for the Department of Commerce, Cooper has selected Tony Copeland, a leader in economic development with many years of involvement recruiting employers to North Carolina.

    Copeland brings experience from both the public and private sector. As Assistant Secretary of Commerce, he helped recruit nearly $12 billion in investment and create nearly 100,000 jobs for North Carolina. In the private sector, he worked with companies looking to locate operations in North Carolina including global headquarters. He also served from 1992-2003 as executive vice president, secretary and general counsel of telecommunications company BTI.

    He is a native of Hertford and a graduate of Duke University and the Western Michigan University School of Law.

    "Tony Copeland knows how to bring more good paying jobs to North Carolina," Cooper said. "He understands what makes our state such a great place to do business and how we can best prepare our workforce for 21st century careers."

    Cooper named experienced executive Machelle Sanders to lead the NC Department of Administration, the agency that serves as the business manager for state government.

    Sanders has decades of expertise in quality control, quality assurance, manufacturing operations, and general management from numerous positions in the biotechnology field. She held senior leadership positions with Biogen from 2007-2016 and previously worked at Perdue Pharmaceuticals and Akzo Nobel.

    Sanders is a native of Belhaven and a graduate of North Carolina State University with a Master of Health Administration from Pfeiffer University.

    "Machelle Sanders has a long track record of making complex organizations run smoothly," Cooper said. "She'll help us make state government more organized, efficient and effective."

    Other Cooper Administration cabinet officers will be announced later this week.

• Contact: Noelle Talley
•     govpress@nc.gov