Elizabeth S. Biser
Elizabeth S. Biser has served as Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality since June of 2021, when she was appointed by Governor Roy Cooper. She is the first woman confirmed to serve as DEQ Secretary.
“Elizabeth Biser is a strong leader who has experience with this environmental agency and knows its critical work in North Carolina,” said Governor Cooper. “We will not waver in our commitment to protect our air, land, and water and to transition to a clean energy future, and Elizabeth will be a strong, steady leader for this agency.”
In August of 2023, she was elected to serve as President of the Environmental Council of States (ECOS) the national nonprofit, nonpartisan association of state and territorial environmental agency leaders.
As DEQ Secretary, she oversees the state agency whose mission is to protect North Carolina’s environment and natural resources. The organization has offices from the mountains to the coast and administers regulatory and public assistance programs aimed at protecting the quality of North Carolina’s air, water and land, its coastal resources and marine fisheries, and the public’s health.
Under Secretary Biser’s leadership, DEQ developed the Action Strategy for PFAS and took proactive steps to prepare public water systems for federal drinking water limits, testing hundreds of systems across the state. She has led DEQ’s efforts to propose state groundwater and surface water standards to reduce the amount of PFAS entering the environment and ensure residents are not paying for the entire cost of cleaning up PFAS contamination. Additionally, she has been an outspoken advocate of ensuring the entire lifecycle of PFAS is addressed, recently petitioning the Environmental Protection Agency to list four PFAS compounds as Hazardous Air Pollutants.
Secretary Biser has not only been a national leader on PFAS but also on circular economy issues, testifying before the Senate EPW committee numerous times and working with states across the country to advance these issues.
During the past three years, DEQ secured the first fee increases in decades, providing necessary support to permitting staff as they respond to the state’s growing economy. Secretary Biser has led the effort to improve vacancy rates, bringing the Department’s vacancy rate from 23 percent to 14 percent. She led the Department’s data modernization initiative, increasing utilization of technology and implementing processes that allow employees to spend more time on science, data and decision-making, and less on unnecessary paperwork.
Secretary Biser’s appointment marks a return to the Department. She previously served as Director of Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs when the agency was known as the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources. During her tenure in that position, she played a primary role in securing $134 million in funding for the design and construction of the Green Square Complex in downtown Raleigh, which includes the LEED-certified central offices for DEQ.
Biser most recently served as the President of Biser Strategies LLC. Previously, she was the Vice President of Policy and Public Affairs of the Recycling Partnership, and the Government Relations & Policy Advisor of Brooks, Pierce, McLendon, Humphrey & Leonard, LLP. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Public Administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Twitter Account: @SecretaryBiser