Contact: Patricia Smith
Date: Aug. 6, 2007
Phone: (252) 726-7021

DEE LUPTON NAMED FISHERIES DEPUTY DIRECTOR

MOREHEAD CITY – Dee Lupton has been named deputy director of the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries and will assume her new duties Aug. 13.

She replaces former Deputy Director Mike Buhl as second-in-command at DMF and the person who serves as acting director in the event of a prolonged absence of the director. Buhl resigned July 18 to take a job with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs regional office in Winston-Salem.

Lupton, 39, brings more than 13 years experience at DMF to the position. She currently heads DMF’s License and Statistics Section, where in 1999 she helped coordinate implementation of a new commercial fishing license and more recently the Coastal Recreational Fishing License.

“Dee has demonstrated the skills and determination to take this leadership role at a time when the division is moving forward with so many new goals,” said DMF Director Louis Daniel.

In her new position, Lupton will head the day-to-day administration of the agency, supervising eight section chiefs who oversee about 300 employees. She will develop and implement long-range administrative goals for the agency and set priorities for its $21 million budget. Lupton will also coordinate DMF and Wildlife Resources Commission procedures for the Coastal Recreational Fishing License.

Lupton started with DMF in 1994 as a fisheries biologist and became biologist supervisor in 1995. In 1999 she was named section chief for License and Statistics, a position she had held on an interim basis for the previous year.

Prior to coming to DMF, Lupton worked for four years as an environmental technician for Weyerhaeuser.

Lupton grew up in Vandemere, graduated from Pamlico County High School and holds a bachelor of science in marine biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington.

Lupton lives in Arapahoe with her husband, Hiram, and daughter, Cheyenne, 6.

She may be reached by telephone at (252) 726-7021 or by e-mail at dee.lupton@ncmail.net. A photograph may be downloaded at http://www.ncdmf.net/news/releases/2007/aug2007.html.