Pamela Cashwell

Pamela Brewington Cashwell was named secretary of the N.C. Department of Administration in March 2021, becoming the American Indian woman to head a state cabinet department in North Carolina’s history.

Prior to her role at the Department of Administration, Cashwell was senior policy adviser and chief deputy secretary for Professional Standards, Policy and Planning at the N.C. Department of Public Safety. In her roles, she oversaw the Office of Special Investigations, Internal Audit, Communications, Private Protective Services and Policy and Strategic Planning.

Cashwell formerly served as assistant director at the State Ethics Commission, as a trial attorney and attorney adviser in the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice and as special assistant United States attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia.

She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a Juris Doctor. 

Cashwell, who is Lumbee and Coharie, has long been an advocate for American Indian and women's issues and currently serves on UNC-Chapel Hill’s Alumni Committee on Racial and Ethnic Diversity and Women’s Leadership Council.