NC emergency management leader Mike Sprayberry retiring
Mike Sprayberry, who has helped lead North Carolina through storms and a pandemic, will retire this year.
The state public safety department announced Friday that Sprayberry would retire Aug. 1 after more than 42 years. He has been the executive director of the N.C. Division of Emergency Management since 2013 and also leads the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency.
At briefings on the coronavirus pandemic, Sprayberry frequently appeared alongside Gov. Roy Cooper and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen.
He was known for repeating a similar reminder to viewers at each briefing. “As always, don’t forget to look out for your family, friends and neighbors,” Sprayberry said at one briefing, The News & Observer reported. “And call your loved ones daily. I guarantee you they’ll appreciate it. With kindness and cooperation, we’ll all get through this together as one team, one mission and one family.”
In an interview with The N&O six months into the pandemic, Sprayberry talked about what went on behind-the-scenes in day-to-day management of COVID-19 in North Carolina. He and Cohen would have daily morning stand-up meetings before briefing the governor. In August, managing the crisis also meant looking at hospitalizations and capacity, supply of personal protective equipment, the percent of tests coming back positive, vaccines and potential treatments, he said then.
Sprayberry said then that the lack of an adequate national PPE supply early in the crisis took him by surprise, and that he shouldn’t have assumed there was enough in the national stockpile. He also said it was bewildering to him why some people weren’t following guidance on social distancing, face-covering and hand washing and didn’t value taking care of themselves and others.
Military service shaped him
In a prepared statement included in the news release announcing his retirement, Sprayberry said: “This has been the most satisfying opportunity of my career. It has been an incredible honor to serve the people of North Carolina throughout the years facing many hazards and threats together, to include over a year of responding to the COVID-19 Pandemic. It’s now time to enter the next phase of my life with my family who has provided me with such great love and support.
Sprayberry, a Charlotte native, served in the U.S. Marine Corps and the N.C. Army National Guard.
In a previously unpublished part of the N&O’s interview with Sprayberry, he talked about how his military service affected his career in state leadership.
“One misconception that people have about the military is that we get people to follow us by berating them or being some sort of martinet or something like that, when in fact you need to lead by example and you need to treat others with respect and dignity,” Sprayberry said. He said the military helped him in getting along with a diverse group of people and seeing the value in everybody.
He said being a Marine was exciting because “it doesn’t matter where you’re from or what you look like, I believe you can bring something of value to the fight.”
Organizationally, he used his military experience in civilian life to make sure meetings started on time and kept moving along.
Cooper and Public Safety Secretary Erik Hooks both praised Sprayberry in the release, calling attention to the many disasters that have faced the state during his tenure.
“Mike Sprayberry has served our state with distinction, keeping North Carolinians safe through unprecedented natural disasters and a global pandemic,” Cooper said.
“Over the last four years we have faced major hurricanes, winter storms, earthquakes, and a global pandemic, yet Director Sprayberry has been steadfast in his passion for the people of North Carolina and his commitment to strong partnerships across all communities and levels of government,” Hooks said.
Sprayberry himself often praised his colleagues, including Cohen, who he first worked with extensively during Hurricane Florence response.
In late summer 2020, he said they had established a battle rhythm. “It’s like every day, pumping hard. It’s like an engine. Ever since the beginning of March [2020] that engine’s been rolling hard, so every once in a while someone will take a few days off.”
Now retiring, Sprayberry will be able to cool the engine. In his free time, his likes to spend time with his family and his dogs, and read.
He likes to read war histories and biographies.
“Nothing fun, my wife would say,” Sprayberry quipped.
This story was originally published April 16, 2021 at 11:14 AM.
