Public sector employees from state agencies, universities and local government were recognized on Monday for completing the rigorous North Carolina Certified Public Manager® Program (CPM) in an informal virtual ceremony led by the Talent Management Division of the Office of State Human Resources (OSHR).

“The achievement of this year’s graduates is especially impressive, given that we had to shift this highly collaborative, mostly in-person program to an online format due to the pandemic,” said John Massey, director of the Talent Management Division. “Our participants completed a wide scope of complex projects, using their CPM skills to address specific agency challenges.”

The 2020 class CPM graduates will join next year’s cohort for a formal ceremony to be held in October 2021.

Managed by OSHR, the program was established in 1982 as the North Carolina Public Manager Program to enhance the effectiveness of public sector organizations across our state by developing the leadership capabilities of mid-level managers. Since then, more than 2,424 mid-level managers across state and local governments have completed the programs.

To date, 1,626 of those graduates have been awarded the Certified Public Manager designation following the program’s accreditation by the National Certified Public Manager Consortium.

Framed certificates, signed by Governor Roy Cooper, State Human Resources Director Barbara Gibson, Talent Management Director John Massey and CPM Program Director Reed Altman, were sent to each graduate.

All honorees are based in Raleigh unless otherwise noted:

• Administrative Office of the Courts: Soumajit Ghosh, Kathryn Wall Hair
• Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: Cathy Ma
• Department of Commerce: Felicia Culbreath-Setzer (Conover), Regina Rae Graham
• Department of Environmental Quality: Mary Margaret Taylor Hartsfield (Winston-Salem), Elizabeth Torrey Huddleston (Washington), Anjali Orlando, Colleen Marie Simmons (Mooresville)
• Department of Health and Human Services: Tracy Alan Bristow (Winterville), Akil J.T. Campbell, Tonja Burnett Reeder (Charlotte), Layne Roberts, Stacy Michele Silvia
• Department of Information Technology: Joseph W. Fort, Maurice La Mont Jordan, James Michael Shafer
• Department of Justice: Danielle Marquis Elder
• Department of Natural and Cultural Resources: Lindsay Flood Ferrante
• Department of Public Instruction: Marshall Todd Foster
• Department of Public Safety: David Ross Carter (Roxboro), Benjamin Adam Carver (Marion), Sylvia L. Clement (Asheville), Timothy Paul Jones (Smithfield), Gary Nelson Parks (Greenville)
• Department of Revenue: Nicole Ann Hunter, Andre J. Little, Veronica McKenzie (Charlotte), Lacie Brooks Morrow (Asheville), Deborah Joyner Owens (Winterville), William Preston Young
• Department of Transportation: Wasan Abdul Baki Alkaissi, John. W. Kirby, Jeffrey Scott Littlefield (Albemarle), Anthony Paul Tagliaferri (Albemarle), Byron Sanders Jr. (Cary), David Neil Snoke (Cary)
• Office of the State Controller: Theresa I. Jeffries (Cary)
• Winston-Salem State University: Debra Lynn Gunter (Winston-Salem)

For additional information about the North Carolina Certified Public Manager® Program, visit https://oshr.nc.gov/document/certified-public-manager-program.

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