After serving for twenty-seven years in state government, including the last three as secretary for the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT), Eric Boyette is retiring.
“Secretary Boyette has served North Carolina with distinction during my term as Governor, first as Secretary of the Department of Information Technology and now as Secretary of Transportation, and I’m deeply grateful for his hard work and commitment to the people of our state,” Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, said in a press release.
Cooper has appointed Joseph R. “Joey” Hopkins, current NCDOT Chief Operating Officer, to succeed him beginning October 1.
“I’m confident that Joey Hopkins will continue this outstanding work as Secretary of the Department of Transportation when he steps into this new role a few weeks from now,” Cooper said.
Hopkins has worked at NCDOT for over 30 years in various capacities, including deputy chief engineer, division engineer, deputy division engineer, division maintenance engineer, and division operations engineer, all in Division 5.
He currently oversees different modes of transportation, including the Division of Highways, Rail Division, Division of Aviation, Ferry Division, and Integrated Mobility Division. He also manages communications, human resources, and the Office of Strategic Planning and Programming.
Hopkins is also a DOT Transformation Management Team member, working on developing the Strategic Prioritization Process. This process is the forerunner of the Strategic Mobility Formula – a data-driven process currently used to help prioritize transportation projects in North Carolina.