Another NC leader for the Biden Administration

North Carolina appears poised to provide another major leader for the Biden Administration in the realm of health and the environment. Former NC Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Mandy Cohen is reportedly being tapped as the next head of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). If finalized, this will make the second former member of Gov. Roy Cooper’s cabinet to be tapped for a high-responsibility, high-profile role in the Biden Administration. Former NC Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Secretary, now US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan was the first.

In her role at NC HHS, Cohen was the leader and principal public face of Cooper’s coronavirus pandemic control program, which won national accolades for effectively reducing North Carolina’s human losses to the pandemic. Cohen proved to be both an effective communicator and steady administrator through the worst global public health crisis of this century. Her effectiveness in this role in a large, diverse state with politically divided government was a major selling point in her consideration by Biden Administration officials. Former colleagues of Cohen emphasize her dual skills as the public face of an organization, while also understanding its nuts and bolts. “Mandy is a great manager, fixer, strategist and public communicator,” said Natalie Davis, the CEO of United States of Care, a nonprofit focused on access to affordable health care, and a close colleague of Cohen’s during the Obama administration.