The Cabinet is the group of unelected heads of the executive departments of the North Carolina government. It is separate and distinct from the North Carolina Council of State, the members of which are elected state-wide, and which makes up the rest of the executive leadership of the government. All Cabinet secretaries are appointed by the Governor, who is Beverly Perdue (D) since January 2009.
The Cabinet's size decreased by two on Jan. 1, 2012, when three Cabinet-level agencies, the North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety, the North Carolina Department of Correction and the North Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, were merged to become the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.[1]
In addition, the President of the state Community College System, currently Scott Ralls, is sometimes considered a member of the Governor's Cabinet. The President, however, is appointed not by the Governor, but by the state Board of Community Colleges.
As of 2011, Governor Perdue's official website adds to those listed above some other officials that she considers members of her Cabinet[3]: