Experts

Commissioner Meg Scott Phipps

Meg Scott Phipps is North Carolina's Commissioner of Agriculture. Born and raised in Haw River, Alamance County, N.C, she has been interested and involved in agriculture her entire life. She grew up working on her father's (former Governor Bob Scott) dairy farm. She graduated from Wake Forest University and the Campbell University School of Law.

From there she went to the University of Arkansas School of Law to earn her Master's Degree in Agricultural Law, and then began representing farmers in bankruptcy court. She followed that by becoming an administrative law judge for the State of North Carolina.

Meg comes from a family of leaders. Kerr Scott, her grandfather, was elected N.C. Commissioner of Agriculture and later elected Governor of the state from 1949-53. He also served as a U.S. Senator. Her father Bob Scott was elected Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina and later Governor of the state. Her great-uncle Ralph Scott was a legislator in the General Assembly for many years.

Meg and husband Robert Phipps, Jr., own and live on the family farm (Meville Farms) where she grew up. They have two children, Margaret and Rob. They raise beef cattle, sell hay and grow field-grown nursery stock. She is an elder and past Sunday School teacher at Hawfields Presbyterian Church.

Eric L. Tolbert

Eric Tolbert is Director of the North Carolina Division of Emergency Management, with responsibility for development and management of the state's comprehensive emergency management system.

Eric began his emergency management career as a local director and has since served as Area Coordinator and Assistant Director in North Carolina, as well as Chief of the Bureau of Preparedness and Response with the Florida Division of Emergency Management, and returned to North Carolina as Director in 1997 after Hurricane Fran devastated North Carolina.

Currently serving as President-elect of the National Emergency Management Association (NEMA) and also serves as Chairman of the North Carolina Emergency Response Commission; he is also an appointed member of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's Urban Search and Rescue Advisory Committee and the Emergency Management Institute's Board of Visitors.

Dr. Michael Walden

Dr. Michael Walden is a Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at N.C. State University with teaching, research, and extension responsibilities in consumer markets and public policy. He has taught economics at NC State University since 1978. A native of Cincinnati, his undergraduate degree is from the University of Cincinnati and his Ph.D. degree is from Cornell University.

Dr. Walden is the author of over 200 articles and reports and three books. He has served on several local and state level commissions and task forces, including the Governor's Welfare Reform Task Force and the School Capital Construction Legislative Study Commission.

He can be seen, heard, and read frequently in the media. He produces two regular radio programs, is often a radio talk-show guest, and writes a biweekly newspaper column carried by forty papers in the state.

Dr. Tim Hammonds

Dr. Tim Hammonds is president and chief executive officer of the Food Marketing Institute, an international nonprofit association conducting programs in research, education, industry relations and public affairs on behalf of its 2,500 members--food retailers and wholesalers in the United States and 60 other countries. FMI's domestic member companies operate approximately 25,000 retail food stores accounting for nearly three-quarters of all grocery store sales in the United States. FMI's membership ranges from the largest global companies to single-store family supermarkets.

Prior to joining FMI in 1975, Dr. Hammonds was a tenured member of the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon where he served from 1970-1975. While there, he taught courses in agricultural economics, managerial economics, and advanced statistics and was named the outstanding teacher in the School of Agriculture for 1972-73.

Dr. Hammonds grew up on a family dairy farm in the Finger Lakes region of New York State.

Dr. David Marshall

Dr. David Marshall is North Carolina's State Veterinarian. He has been with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services since 1988. The state veterinarian administers the animal health regulatory division utilizing 250 employees including 40 veterinarians, enforces the general statutes and administrative rules involving livestock and poultry disease diagnosis, control, eradication, and animal movement restrictions.

A graduate of University of Georgia's College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Marshall work closely with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in regulatory programs and foreign animal disease (FAD).

Dr. Thomas J. McGinn, III

As Assistant State Veterinarian for the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services of North Carolina, Dr. McGinn leads a staff of 300, including 50 veterinarians, administering a budget of $15 million. In this capacity, he pioneered the use of Geographic Information Systems for animal and human health management. As a result, he became an expert consultant to the World Health Organization in 1994. In 1995, he received national media recognition for his leadership of the successful operation to save the Carrot Island Feral Horses, a national treasure living on North Carolina's Outer Banks. Dr. McGinn also serves as a consultant to international biotechnological companies for the design and development of therapies to treat chronic diseases, as well as Founder and Chief Science Officer of VetXcel, a practice management company.

Nationally known for founding of the North Carolina State Animal Response Team (SART). Dr. McGinn is currently leading the strategic planning efforts for North Carolina with respect to Foot and Mouth Disease. In partnership with the State Emergency Response Team (SERT), Dr. McGinn is representing North Carolina on a federal level to the USDA, the United States Congress, FEMA, and the National Disaster Medicine Society.

A graduate of the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. McGinn's twenty-year career has focused on providing leadership to creating partnerships between human and animal medicine.