Andrea R. Poole is the fourth executive director of the Authority. In this capacity she also serves as the principal executive officer of the Authority and the secretary of the board.

Ms. Poole has more than 20 years of service to the State of North Carolina, including more than a decade focused on higher education. Immediately prior to joining the authority in January 2021, she served as Vice President for Strategic Initiatives as the North Carolina Community College System. Ms. Poole worked from 2013 to 2019 at the University of North Carolina System Office, first as the associate vice president of finance and university budgets and more recently as secretary of the university. From 2005 to 2013, Ms. Poole was a fiscal analyst in the North Carolina General Assembly’s nonpartisan Fiscal Research Division. There, she specialized in issues surrounding higher education, financial aid, and health and human services. Ms. Poole began her career as a policy analyst for the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency.

Ms. Poole earned a Bachelor of Science from Duke University and a Master of Public Administration from North Carolina State University.