Casandra Skinner Hoekstra

Casandra Skinner Hoekstra serves as the department's chief deputy secretary for Administration overseeing a variety of divisions, including Human Resources, Legislative Affairs, Office of Special Investigations and the Governor’s Crime Commission. She was appointed as interim secretary for the North Carolina Department of Public Safety effective August 1, 2021 through October 31, 2021.

Hoekstra is a trusted advisor with more than 25 years of legal, policy development and local and state government relations experience. She has previously served as the legislative counsel for the N.C. Association of County Commissioners, as general counsel for the Department of Public Safety and the former Department of Crime Control and Public Safety.  She worked with the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts as legislative liaison and associate legal counsel and served as the legislative counsel for Gov. Michael Easley. Hoekstra also has served on the N.C. Domestic Violence and N.C. Victims Compensation Commissions

Hoekstra holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of North Carolina at Asheville and a Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law.