J. Keith Crisco was appointed Secretary of Commerce by Gov. Bev Perdue in January 2009. He brings 38 years of experience in business and commerce to the position.

For more than 20 years, Crisco served as president and chairman of Asheboro Elastics Corp, a company he formed with partners in 1986. This highly successful company has offices in seven countries, manufacturing facilities in Central America and the United States, and sales around the world. Prior to that, he worked for eight years as the president of Stedman Elastics in Asheboro.

Crisco earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Pfeiffer University in Misenheimer and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard University. After graduate school, the Stanly County native worked as assistant to the executive vice president for Burlington Industries. He worked for the company for 10 years, including stints in Chicago and New York City.  From 1970-1971 Crisco served as a White House fellow in Washington, D.C., as assistant to the U.S. Secretary for Commerce during the Nixon administration.

Born and raised on a farm near Aquadale, N.C., Crisco has served on the Asheboro City Council, as chairman of the Pfeiffer University board of trustees, as chairman of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research and as chairman of the National Elastic Manufacturer’s Association. He also served as chairman of Globio, a children’s educational Web site based in Portland, Ore., that uses wildlife photos to create a dialogue to connect children around the world.

Crisco also served on Randolph Community College’s board for 16 years and as an active member of the UNC School of Public Health Advisory Council. He has been active with the N.C. Community Foundation, Action for Children North Carolina, and various land trust and environmental organizations.

He and his wife, Jane, have three children and six grandchildren. They live in Asheboro and the Town of Oriental in Pamlico County.

When Dale Carroll was appointed by Gov. Bev Perdue as the deputy secretary of the N.C. Department of Commerce in January 2009, he brought three decades of business management and executive leadership to the position.

Prior to joining Commerce, Carroll served for 12 years as the chief executive officer of AdvantageWest, an economic development partnership that serves 23 counties in the western part of the state. Before that, he worked for 18 years with Carolina Power & Light (now Progress Energy) in roles that ranged from energy services engineer to manager of economic development.

During his tenure at AdvantageWest, Carroll’s board and staff were recognized for excellence by the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, Southeast Tourism Society, Entrepreneur Magazine and Southern Economic Development Council.

He is a past president of the N.C. Economic Developers Association and has served on the state’s Economic Development Board and the N.C. Biotechnology Center’s Advisory Committee for Biotechnology in Western North Carolina.

Carroll received a bachelor of science degree from N.C. State University and a master’s degree in management and human relations from Webster University in St. Louis.

EDUCATION
• B.S., North Carolina State University
• Master’s, Management and Human Relations, Webster University

CIVIC PARTICIPATION
• Member, Board of Western North Carolina Industries
• Member, Advisory Committee for Biotechnology in Western North Carolina

Scott R. Daugherty was appointed by Gov. Beverly Perdue to serve as North Carolina’s first Small Business Commissioner in 2010.  In this capacity he reports to the secretary of Commerce and is a senior member of the N.C. Department of Commerce staff.  Daugherty also serves as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Extension, Engagement and Economic Development at North Carolina State University and directs the Small Business and Technology Development Center. The SBTDC is the business and technology extension service of The University of North Carolina system, administered by North Carolina State University. The SBTDC operates in partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration and the N.C. Department of Commerce. 

Daugherty attended Wake Forest University, The University of Miami and The University of Florida.  He has a law degree and has practiced as a corporate attorney in Florida, Mississippi and Washington, D.C. He also has managed two large regional economic development organizations and organized and run a small business investment company. Just prior to joining The University of North Carolina system in 1984, Daugherty was a Vice President and Deputy General Counsel of a large quasi-public financing agency in Washington, DC.

Daugherty has had significant involvement with business, trade, technology development and capital formation issues throughout his professional career.  He has served as a consultant to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Bank, the Ford Foundation and the U.S. Small Business Administration. He is a member of a number of boards of directors and government agency task forces, a past (three times) chairman of the board of directors for the national Association of Small Business Development Centers, a member of the N.C. District Export Council, an advisor to the N.C. Economic Development Board, and to the North Carolina Board of Science and Technology.

Learn more about Business Link N.C. (BLNC).

Jennifer L. Bumgarner is the Assistant Secretary for Energy and oversees the N.C. Energy Office, the state’s weatherization program and the state’s Energy Policy Council.

Bumgarner, who lives in Clayton, has served as a policy adviser in the Governor’s Policy Office since May 2005.  In October 2009, she was named deputy policy director. Bumgarner holds an M.Sc. in Social Policy from the University of Oxford, Oxford, England, where she studied as a Rhodes Scholar. She also holds a B.A. in Politics with Honors from Wake Forest University. 

Assistant Secretary for Community Development Henry McKoy supervises the Division of Community Assistance, Rural Development Council and N.C.'s Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) program.

McKoy joined the Department of Commerce in 2010 as Assistant Secretary for Community Development. He graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Business Administration and has pursued graduate studies in Environmental Management and Policy at Duke University. McKoy has served as a member of North Carolina's Economic Development Board, charged with developing a strategic economic development plan for the state. He has previously sat on or chaired other boards across North Carolina and the U.S. related to sustainability, community development, business and education, including EmPOWERment Inc, the Responsible Endowment Coalition, SJF Ventures Advisory Services and the N.C. Council on Economic Education.

Assistant Secretary for Policy, Research and Strategic Planning Stephanie McGarrah supervises the Department’s market researchers and economists, the Economic Development Information System (EDIS) team, the staff of the N.C. Economic Development Board, and the Department's policy analysts.  She was appointed in 2007.

McGarrah previously worked at the Department of Commerce as the policy director and staff director for the N.C. Economic Development Board, and she has 10 years of public policy and market research experience.  Before returning to Commerce, McGarrah served as the public policy manager at Red Hat. She holds a B.A. from UNC-Chapel Hill and a Masters in Public Policy from Duke University.

Lynn Minges is the Assistant Secretary of Tourism, Marketing, and Global Branding for the North Carolina Department of Commerce. In this role, she provides leadership and strategic direction for the state’s tourism, film, sports, and wine industries while marketing the state as the preferred location for domestic and international business.

Minges serves on the executive committee and the board of directors of the U.S. Travel Association and is an active member of the National Council of State Travel Directors where she has chaired and served on numerous committees. She is a past chair and executive committee member of Travel South USA, and is a member of the board of directors of Southeast Tourism Society. She also serves on the Business Advisory Council of the John A. Walker College of Business at Appalachian State University.

Under her leadership, the Department has been recognized with numerous national and international awards for marketing excellence. Lynn was recently recognized by Triangle Business Journal with their “Outstanding Women in Business Award."

Lynn is a graduate of Peace College and North Carolina State University and has over 25 years of sales and marketing experience.

Tim Crowley is the Assistant Secretary for Communications and External Affairs and supervises the public affairs division.  As assistant secretary, he is responsible for managing communications in the state’s leading economic development agency, including project announcements and media inquiries. 

In prior roles, Crowley served as deputy communications director for Gov. Bev Perdue during her first 1½ years in office, as press secretary during Perdue’s successful gubernatorial campaign, and as communications director during Perdue’s final two years as lieutenant governor.  Before that, Crowley was an award-winning, 15-year broadcast veteran, including stints as UNC-TV’s host of Legislative Week in Review, statehouse reporter for North Carolina Public Radio Association, and news director of an NPR affiliate and commercial radio station in Illinois. 

Crowley holds a B.A. in Communications from Western Illinois University and a master’s degree in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois-Springfield.  He lives in Durham with his wife Kim and sons Carson and Eli.  

John Hardin is the Executive Director of the Office of Science and Technology. He was appointed acting director in spring 2008 and executive director in fall 2009.  From 2003 to 2008, he served as the office’s Deputy Director and Chief Policy Analyst.

In his current role he conducts strategic planning and makes recommendations for technology-based economic development, implements technology-related economic development policy and resource allocations, supervises the staff of the N.C. Board of Science and Technology, directs and oversees the administration of grant programs to support technology development and commercialization, and oversees strategic initiatives.

From 1998 to 2003, he served as Assistant Vice President for Research and Sponsored Programs in the UNC General Administration. From 1998 to 2005, he held an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in the Dept. of Political Science at UNC-Chapel Hill. He currently holds an Adjunct Assistant Professor position in the Dept. of Public Policy at UNC-Chapel Hill, where he teaches courses on American politics, public policy, and policy analysis. 

A native of Tulsa, Okla., he holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in political science from UNC-Chapel Hill, and a B.A. in economics from Baylor University.

Rita Harris can be reached at (919) 715-2785 or at rharris@nccommerce.com.

Executive Director of Workforce Development Roger J. Shackleford supervises the Commission on Workforce Development and the Division of Workforce Development. The commission is responsible for oversight, policy development, and planning for the workforce development system in North Carolina. Prior to this appointment in 2002, Shackleford spent five years as a senior partner with the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce. In this role, he consulted with state and local governments on building workforce policy and change strategies, including community engagement, workforce analysis, Workforce Board development and one-stop career center system building. 

Shackleford has over 24 years experience in workforce development and policy administration at the state and local level. He is a graduate of Shaw University in Raleigh, N.C. and of the N.C. Public Managers program and was a fellow in Bell South’s Global Leaders of the South program.

General Counsel Karen West is responsible for the Department's legal affairs. She also serves as counsel to the State's Economic Investment Committee, responsible for economic incentive grants under the Job Development Investment Grant Program, the Job Maintenance and Capital Development Program, and the Site Infrastructure Development Fund. She provides legal, business, programmatic, communications, and policy advice and analysis on a broad spectrum of Department projects and issues.

West brings over 20 years of domestic and international experience to the Department. She was Assistant General Counsel at the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, managing a portfolio of projects at this international development agency charged with mobilizing private investment. She was an officer at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, senior associate in the Capital Markets Group at the law firm of Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft, and Deputy Director of Financial Sector Legal Reform for the Harvard Institute for International Development, helping the Russian Federation create new financial structures. She currently serves as arbitrator on cases for the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the securities industry's largest dispute resolution forum.

West is an honors graduate of Harvard Law School. She holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Political Science, summa cum laude, from the School of Public Communications at Boston University.