CALS grad directs NCDA&CS Emergency Programs
Stewart (center) was part of this incident management team deployed to Hattiesburg, Miss., after Hurricane Katrina.
Photo Courtesy Sharron Stewart
When Sharron W. Stewart of Four Oaks became director of the Emergency Programs Division at the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, she brought a wealth of pertinent experience to the job.
The Emergency Programs Division is the department’s chief emergency preparedness and response unit. Its work focuses on reducing the N.C. agricultural community’s vulnerability to disasters, diseases and terrorist attacks. State Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler announced Stewart’s appointment in February.
Stewart, who previously served as deputy director of the division, is a 1981 horticultural science graduate of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She also holds the certificate for community preparedness and disaster response from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the American Academy of Certified Public Managers, the N.C. Society of Public Managers and the State Animal Response Team.
Stewart joined the NCDA&CS in 1981, working with the Plant Industry Division before becoming an inspector with the pesticide regulatory programs. She left the department in 1988 to run a private business but returned in 1991 and held several positions in pesticide regulation before becoming deputy director of emergency programs in 2005.
Trained extensively in incident management and command, Stewart has served as commander of NCDA&CS drought and hay relief efforts. Among her responsibilities in that role were daily organization of team and project direction, liaison with the commissioner’s executive staff, and interaction with external partners such as Emergency Management and the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.
“Throughout her career, Sharron has demonstrated the ability to lead and get things done,” Troxler said. “Her management skills and experience will be extremely beneficial in overseeing the Emergency Programs Division, which is responsible for providing coordinated planning, response and recovery efforts for agricultural disasters.”
Stewart also served on a team that ran a shelter for displaced animals along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — activities that provided some useful lessons. For example, “Mississippi ran a separate shelter operation for the animals, which limited competition for resources and assisted in better donations management,” says Stewart.
She also learned “ to work within the protocols of the state who invites you in to assist in their recovery. Regardless of your experience, this is their state, and their way of doing business should be your priority.”
Another key observation she made is “animals deserve our attention from the beginning of disaster planning, not as an afterthought,” she says. “Much progress has been made in this area in North Carolina.”
Now as leader of the Emergency Programs Division, Stewart says she is determined “to assure our team focuses on the talent that resides within our agricultural communities and the desire of our citizens to assure local resiliency to agricultural emergencies; to assure our division has the most capable and professional staff for managing all hazards planning for agricultural emergency planning and response; and to assure our divisions within the department are recognized for subject matter expertise and existing partnerships [and are] appropriately trained and exercised, in order to expand the department’s capability to plan and respond to disasters.”
Sharron Stewart
Stewart, who previously served as deputy director of the division, is a 1981 horticultural science graduate of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She also holds the certificate for community preparedness and disaster response from UNC-Chapel Hill. She is a member of the American Academy of Certified Public Managers, the N.C. Society of Public Managers and the State Animal Response Team.
Stewart joined the NCDA&CS in 1981, working with the Plant Industry Division before becoming an inspector with the pesticide regulatory programs. She left the department in 1988 to run a private business but returned in 1991 and held several positions in pesticide regulation before becoming deputy director of emergency programs in 2005.
Trained extensively in incident management and command, Stewart has served as commander of NCDA&CS drought and hay relief efforts. Among her responsibilities in that role were daily organization of team and project direction, liaison with the commissioner’s executive staff, and interaction with external partners such as Emergency Management and the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service.
“Throughout her career, Sharron has demonstrated the ability to lead and get things done,” Troxler said. “Her management skills and experience will be extremely beneficial in overseeing the Emergency Programs Division, which is responsible for providing coordinated planning, response and recovery efforts for agricultural disasters.”
Stewart also served on a team that ran a shelter for displaced animals along the Gulf Coast following Hurricane Katrina in 2005 — activities that provided some useful lessons. For example, “Mississippi ran a separate shelter operation for the animals, which limited competition for resources and assisted in better donations management,” says Stewart.
She also learned “ to work within the protocols of the state who invites you in to assist in their recovery. Regardless of your experience, this is their state, and their way of doing business should be your priority.”
Another key observation she made is “animals deserve our attention from the beginning of disaster planning, not as an afterthought,” she says. “Much progress has been made in this area in North Carolina.”
Now as leader of the Emergency Programs Division, Stewart says she is determined “to assure our team focuses on the talent that resides within our agricultural communities and the desire of our citizens to assure local resiliency to agricultural emergencies; to assure our division has the most capable and professional staff for managing all hazards planning for agricultural emergency planning and response; and to assure our divisions within the department are recognized for subject matter expertise and existing partnerships [and are] appropriately trained and exercised, in order to expand the department’s capability to plan and respond to disasters.”