RALEIGH — Gov. Josh Stein has announced several hires for his staff, many of which served under him when he was attorney general. Newly named staff include mainly legislative advisory roles that include individuals who served under Stein at the North Carolina Department of Justice (NCDOJ).
John Lucey will be Stein’s legislative director. Lucey joined the Biden administration after serving as chief strategy officer for North Carolina’s Department of Environmental Quality. He served under President Joe Biden as a deputy associate administrator for the Office of Congressional and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Environmental Protection Agency. His most recent role under the Biden administration was a senior adviser to the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs for Implementation, and Lucdy was also a gubernatorial campaign staffer for former Gov. Roy Cooper.
Amber Harris will serve as deputy legislative director. Harris spent a decade at the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, including as policy and advocacy director. She previously worked at the General Assembly as a legislative assistant for three former senators.
Sunila Chilukuri was named as another deputy legislative director. She served under Stein at the NCDOJ as a liaison to the General Assembly. She was also a staffer for former N.C. Supreme Court Justice Cheri Beasley’s failed Senate bid.
Juan Molina will serve as research director for Stein. Molina was on Stein’s gubernatorial campaign staff as deputy research director. Molina spent around 10 months as a research fellow with American Bridge, a super PAC. American Bridge was created by Democrat political consultant David Brock, who also founded the left-leaning Media Matters for America and a judicial watchdog group called Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which both track Republican candidates and elected officials.
Additionally, Wake County Board of Commissioners Chairman Matt Calabria will be resigning to take a role in Stein’s administration. Calabria will be a member of Stein’s newly established Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina (GROW NC), focused on Hurricane Helene recovery efforts.
Calabria, a Democrat, was first elected to the Wake County Board of Commissioners (WBOC) 2014. His departure comes with two years left in his current term and the Wake County Democratic Party will have to nominate a replacement for the Wake County commissioners to approve.
On Dec. 17, Stein announced his first key leadership positions, four of which served under him at the NCDOJ.
Seth Dearmin was named Stein’s chief of staff, a title Dearmin held under Stein at the NCDOJ during Stein’s first term as attorney general in 2017. Dearmin was Stein’s attorney general campaign manager in 2016. He has also worked at the political consulting firm Nexus Strategies, co-founded by Morgan Jackson, who is the “Chief Political Advisor to Governor Roy Cooper and Attorney General Josh Stein in North Carolina.”
Jasmine McGhee will be deputy chief of staff and a senior adviser to Stein. Like Dearmin, McGhee served under Stein at the NCDOJ as the senior deputy attorney general with the Consumer Protection Division working on antitrust issues. She has also been staff lead for the Task Force for Racial Equity in Criminal Justice and served on the state’s Human Trafficking Commission, Governor’s Crime Commission.
Laura Brewer, another Stein NDOJ employee, was tapped as deputy chief of staff and external adviser. At the NCDOJ, Brewer first served as communications director and was most recently Stein’s deputy chief of staff at that agency. Before serving at the NSDOJ, she worked at Capstrat, a public affairs and communications outfit owned and operated by Cooper’s senior adviser, Ken Eudy. She also served as press secretary to Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and worked in the press office of North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole.
For general counsel, Stein picked Sarah Boyce, who served under him at the NCDOJ as general counsel, deputy general counsel and solicitor general. Boyce has been a senior lecturing fellow at Duke University and an associate at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP. She also spent about five months serving as the N.C. Democratic Party’s deputy director of voter protection.
Christie McNeill was named deputy chief of staff and chief operations officer. McNeill has been the executive director leading Stein’s gubernatorial transition team. McNeill was a partner in the financial services side of the house at McKinsey & Company. She holds an MBA in business administration from the Wharton School.
The rest of Stein’s leadership team are Chief Deputy General Counsel Tiffany Lucas, Deputy General Counsel South Moore, N.C. Recovery Adviser Jonathan Krebs, Intergovernmental and Outreach Director David Webb, Communications Director Kate Frauenfelder, Office of Constituent Engagement Director Tracy Lovett, Boards and Commissions Director Jacqueta Rascoe and Operations Director Louise Warenda.
On Dec. 16, Stein named seven cabinet members: Gabriel J. Esparza, Department of Administration; Leslie Cooley Dismukes, Department of Adult Correction; Reid Wilson, Department of Environmental Quality; Devdutta Sangvai, Department of Health and Human Services; Pamela Cashwell, Department of Natural and Cultural Resources; McKinley Wooten Jr., Department of Revenue; and Jocelyn Mitnaul Mallette, Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.
A day later, Stein named his final six cabinet picks: Eddie M. Buffaloe Jr. remains in his role as secretary of the Department of Public Safety; Joey Hopkins continues as secretary of Department of Transportation; and Kristin Walker returns as state budget director at the Office of State Budget and Management.
Stein also announced Lee Lilley as secretary of the Department of Commerce, Staci Meyer as director of the Office of State Human Resources and Teena Piccione to serve as secretary of the Department of Information Technology.
