Annette Taylor

Deputy Secretary, Broadband and Digital Opportunity

As deputy secretary for Broadband and Digital Opportunity, Annette Taylor oversees the investment of nearly $1 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds and $30 million in state funds toward infrastructure access and digital literacy to close the digital divide in North Carolina.

Before becoming deputy secretary in March 2025, she served for three years as the N.C. Department of Technology’s director of the Office of Digital Opportunity, which was established as the first of its kind in the nation. In that role, she helped expand NCDIT’s 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 and 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 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 Leadership North Carolina, the Rural Economic Development Institute and Town of Morrisville Citizens Academy.