Raleigh, N.C. –North Carolina Commerce Secretary Anthony M. Copeland announced today that David Knight will join the North Carolina Department of Commerce as the state’s Outdoor Industry Recruitment Director. Knight will lead efforts to promote North Carolina’s outdoor recreation economy and recruit new outdoor industry businesses to the state.
“The outdoor recreation industry currently supports 260,000 jobs in North Carolina and is growing,” said Secretary Copeland. “David will work with public and private-sector professionals and industry advocates to promote this growing industry and help recruit more outdoor recreation businesses to the state.”
Knight is an accomplished executive. Most recently, he established and ran his own policy consulting business based in Raleigh. Before that, Knight served as Assistant Secretary for Natural Resources at the N.C. Department of Environmental and Natural Resources, now known as the Department of Environmental Quality. Knight supervised multiple divisions and offices at the agency including Parks and Recreation, Marine Fisheries, the North Carolina Zoo, N.C. Aquariums, and Forestry. Earlier in his career, Knight served as Director of Government Relations for The North Carolina Nature Conservancy.
Knight graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his Juris Doctorate from Wake Forest University School of Law.
Mr. Knight officially begins his duties on Monday, January 22, 2018.