Annette Taylor

Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Community Partnerships

As Senior Advisor to the Secretary for Community Partnerships, Annette Taylor forges new partnerships with local governments and nonprofits around the N.C. Department of Information Technology’s key priorities of cybersecurity and privacy, technology procurement, digital experience and AI, and broadband.

Before being named to her position in July 2026, Taylor served at NCDIT, first for three years as the director of Office of Digital Opportunity, and then more than a year as Deputy Secretary for Broadband & Digital Opportunity. In those roles, she expanded initiatives to ensure all North Carolinians have access to high-speed internet and digital literacy resources.

Taylor has more than 25 years of community service and civic engagement in both public and private sector roles, as well as in the philanthropic arena directing resources to organizations across North Carolina.

She was appointed chair of the N.C. Council for Women in 2021. She also served on the Governor’s Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental and Health Equity Task Force, helping secure $650,000 in Governor’s Emergency Educational Relief funding for digital literacy skills training in libraries in rural communities.

Taylor holds a Master of Science in organizational leadership from Pfeiffer University, a Bachelor of Arts in communications from North Carolina Central University, and a nonprofit management certificate from Duke University.

She is also a graduate of the Rural Economic Development Institute, the Town of Morrisville Citizens Academy, and Leadership North Carolina (Class 31), where she was awarded the 2024 Stanley Frank Award.

She has also been honored as a recipient of MCNC’s prestigious Empower Award for leaders in technology, and the National Institute of Minority Economic Development’s President’s Award.