Pamela Brewington Cashwell

Pamela Brewington Cashwell was nominated by Governor Josh Stein and took the oath of office as secretary of the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources in January 2025. As Secretary, Cashwell oversees the department’s nearly 2,400 employees and more than 100 locations across the state.

Prior to DNCR, Cashwell served as secretary at the North Carolina Department of Administration from 2021 through 2024. The NC DOA is a statewide administrator, managing government operations spanning from building construction, facility maintenance, purchasing and contracting and state vehicles to mail services, surplus and state properties. She previously served as senior policy advisor and chief deputy secretary for Professional Standards, Policy and Planning at the North Carolina Department of Public Safety, as assistant director at the North Carolina State Ethics Commission, and as a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division and the Office of Justice Programs at the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Eastern District of Virginia. Hailing from the Coharie and Lumbee tribes of North Carolina, Cashwell is the first American Indian woman to head a cabinet department in North Carolina.

Cashwell earned her undergraduate and law degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She lives in Wake County with her husband, David, and has two sons, Samuel and Benjamin.