RALEIGH — David Knight started work last week as the state’s new outdoor industry recruitment director at the N.C. Department of Commerce. His role is to promote the state’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 Commerce Secretary Anthony 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 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, and was previously a lobbyist for The Nature Conservancy and the N.C. Wildlife Federation. At DENR he supervised Parks and Recreation, Marine Fisheries, the North Carolina Zoo, N.C. Aquariums, and Forestry. 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.