Among the dozens of appointments to state boards and commissions Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced Monday, several of the appointees are coastal residents or will serve on boards that affect the coast.
Surf City Mayor Teresa B. Batts has been appointed to the North Carolina Coastal Resources Commission. Batts runs her own real estate firm, Teresa Batts Real Estate LLC.
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To the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission, Cooper appointed Dr. Jacqueline MacDonald Gibson of Raleigh and Kevin Lee Tweedy of Cary.
Gibson, who has special training and scientific expertise in hydrology and water pollution control, is the department head and a professor for the Department of Civil, Construction, and Environmental Engineering at North Carolina State University.
Tweedy is a licensed engineer with specialized training and experience in water supply and pollution. Tweedy is the principal engineer at Ecosystem Planning and Restoration, LLC and has more than 25 years of experience in the water quality industry.
Martin T. McCracken of Raleigh has been appointed to the North Carolina Geographic Information Coordinating Council, which promotes geographic information system, or GIS, technology for the state.
McCracken has been appointed to serve as the designee for the head of an at-large state agency not represented on the council. He is a special deputy attorney general for the state Department of Justice and has been with the department for more than 20 years.
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Don Joyner of Ahoskie, a financial advisor for Edward Jones since 2016, has been appointed to serve as a member at large for the Historic Murfreesboro Commission.
Marshall Bruce Garris of Leland, a licensed clinical mental health counselor, has been appointed to serve on the North Carolina Board of Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselors. Garris is a licensed clinical mental health counselor and clinical supervisor at Bridge Builders Counseling in Wilmington.
Margaret J. Newbold of Vilas has been appointed as chair of the North Carolina Parks and Recreation Authority. Newbold has served on the authority since 2019. She retired in 2018 after 20 years with the Conservation Trust for North Carolina.
Dr. Brent L. Hawkins of Wilmington, a therapeutic recreation specialist engaged in training, has been appointed to serve on the North Carolina Recreational Therapy Licensure Board. Hawkins is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s School of Health and Applied Human Sciences. He previously taught at Clemson University and East Carolina University.
Ryan A. Carter of Charlotte has been appointed to the North Carolina Sedimentation Control Commission. Carter, who will serve as a nongovernmental conservationist, is a policy manager at Catawba Riverkeeper, where he oversees the advocacy and legislative priorities in the 26 counties in the Catawba-Wateree River Basin.
Sean Ryan Estes of Wilmington has been appointed to the North Carolina Social Work Certification and Licensure Board. A licensed clinical social worker and educator, Estes is an adjunct faculty member for the College of Health and Human Services at UNC-Wilmington. He is also the chief operating officer for Coastal Horizons Center, Inc.
Tryon Palace Commission has three new members at large. Cooper appointed Dr. Benny J. Andres Jr., an associate professor of history and Latin American studies at UNC-Charlotte, and David W. Erdman, an attorney at Erdman Law PLLC., both of Charlotte, and Elizabeth Saylors of Goldsboro, a practicing psychologist.
