Commission Members
Mr. Ripley Rand
Term expires August 31, 2026. Appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Ripley Rand is a partner in the Raleigh office of the law firm Womble Bond Dickinson. He has more than 25 years of legal experience, including periods both as a prosecutor and as a judge. He served six years as the United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina during the Obama Administration and eight years as a state Superior Court Judge, presiding over thousands of criminal and civil cases throughout North Carolina. His practice focuses on criminal defense, investigations, regulatory defense, and crisis management.
Rand, a Fayetteville native, is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a bachelor’s degree in political science. He received his law degree with honors from the UNC School of Law. Rand lives in Raleigh and has two children.
Rand serves as chair of the commission and on the Sports Betting Committee, the Operations and Personnel Committee, the Revenue Generating Committee, and the Finance and Audit Committee.
Ms. Cari Boyce
Term expires August 31, 2028. Appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Cari Boyce of Raleigh has more than 30 years of diverse management experience across public and private sectors including work in communication, community and government relations, strategic planning and philanthropy.
Boyce retired from Duke Energy as Senior Vice President for Enterprise, Strategy & Planning in the Spring of 2021. During 15 years at the company, she led several functions, including Corporate Communications, Environmental & Energy Policy, Sustainability, Stakeholder Strategy and the Duke Energy Foundation. She spent her early career in state government in both New York and North Carolina where she held positions in the New York State Legislature, the N.C. Department of Justice, and the N.C. Governor’s Office. She currently serves as an adviser in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. In addition to Boyce’s professional experience, she has also served on a number of non-profit boards, including Teach for America Eastern North Carolina, Habitat for Humanity North Carolina, North Carolina Museum of Art Foundation, UNC-CH Institute for the Environment, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Community Foundation, United Way of Central Carolinas and the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce. She is a graduate of Siena College and earned a master’s in education from North Carolina State University.
She chairs the Sports Betting Committee and serves on the Operations and Personnel Committee.
Mr. Lindsey Griffin
Term expires August 31, 2028. Appointed by House Speaker Tim Moore.
Lindsey Griffin, a native of Pitt County, is a retired commercial contractor, specializing for 35 years in commercial landscaping. In addition to the commission, Griffin serves currently on the Greenville Utilities Commission, serving as its Secretary, and on the Pitt Community College Board of Trustees. Previously, he served as chair of the Vidant Health Foundation Board; as a founding board member of the Irrigation Licensing Board; as chair of the Salem United Methodist Church Trustee Board; and as a board member of the Greenville Jaycees, Greenville Pitt County Home Builders Association, and the Pitt Community College Foundation Board.
Griffin attended North Carolina State University. He resides in Greenville with his wife, Jamison. They have two adult daughters and seven grandchildren.
Griffin serves on the Sports Betting Committee.
Mr. Chris Hayes
Term expires August 31, 2027. Appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.
Chris Hayes, a native of Raleigh, is a Senior Director of State Government Affairs with Reynolds American. Hayes has more than 25 years experience in North Carolina government, politics and government affairs, serving previously as Chief of Staff to N.C. Speaker of the House Thom Tillis and Deputy Chief of Staff in Tillis’ U.S. Senate office.
Hayes graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with a Bachelor’s of Arts in Political Science and earned a Master’s in Business Administration from Campbell University. In addition to the commission, Hayes previously served on the Board of Directors for Keep NC Beautiful, the Board of Visitors at UNC-Chapel Hill, and the Virginia Wholesalers and Distributors Association. In 2015, Hayes was awarded the Order of the Longleaf Pine by Gov. Pat McCrory for his distinguished service to the State of North Carolina. He resides in Winston-Salem with his wife, Melissa, and their two children, Lawson and Rives.
Hayes serves on the Finance and Audit committee.
Mr. Randy Jones
Term expires August 31, 2027. Appointed by House Speaker Tim Moore.
Randy Jones, a native of Johnston County, is a Real Estate Broker, working with Partners Commercial Realty of Smithfield. He is also general managing partner of RJS Limited and owner of JonRae LLC. He has over 35 years of experience in retail and customer service, working with Jones Brothers Furniture, a family business. He has experience in sales, logistics, management, project management, advertising and purchasing. He has an associate of applied science degree in business data processing. He currently serves as chair of the Economic Development Board of Johnston County and chair of the Planning Board for the Town of Pine Level. He is a past president of the Pine Level Lions Club.
Jones and his wife, Renee, lives in Pine Level. They have a son, a daughter, and three grandchildren.
Jones serves on the Finance and Audit Committee.
Mr. Nigel Long
Term expires August 31, 2027. Appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Nigel Long is founder and Senior Managing Director of Trade Street Advisors, LLC, an investment banking firm with associates in Charlotte, Washington DC, Chicago, and New York. He is a seasoned investment banker with 25 years of experience and serves as a senior advisor to Fortune 500 companies and CEOs of some of the nation’s largest Minority Owned Businesses, primarily African-American-, Hispanic- and Asian-owned.
Long is also founder and President of The Dilworth Companies, Inc., a private investment firm that has invested in or advised on nearly $1 billion worth of private equity and real estate transactions. His investment banking career began at First Union Securities.
Long has served on the boards of directors of several private companies and civic organizations, including the Charlotte Community Capital Fund which he helped launch for the City of Charlotte. In 2018, he was appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper to serve on the Board of Trustees for the NC Supplemental Retirement Plan which governs the NC 401(k)/457 Plans and the NC 403(b) Program valued at over $14.5 billion.
Long contributed to national studies and reports including, “The Minority Business Challenge: Democratizing Capital for Emerging Domestic Markets” (U.S. Dept. of Commerce Minority Business Development Agency/the Milken Institute), and the “Financial Innovations in Low Income Communities” project. He was an invited guest at The White House for urban policy briefings during the terms of President George W. Bush, President Barack Obama, and President Donald Trump.
Long attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and graduated with a bachelor’s in business administration. He resides in Charlotte with his wife Christy.
Long chairs the Revenue Generating Committee.
Mr. Joshua Malcolm
Term expires August 31, 2026. Appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Joshua D. Malcolm, a lifelong resident of Robeson County, is the President and CEO of Lumbee Tribe Holdings, Inc., which is the for-profit arm of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. Previously, he served as vice president of legal affairs, general counsel and corporate secretary for Lumbee Tribe Enterprises, LLC; as general counsel for the University of North Carolina at Pembroke; and as associate general counsel for Fayetteville State University. His legal expertise is in tribal enterprises, corporate governance, compliance, healthcare governance and government ethics.
In addition to the commission, he also serves on the N.C. State Bar Council and the N.C. Medical Board and served previously on the N.C. State Board of Elections.
Malcolm graduated from Pembroke State University (now the University of North Carolina at Pembroke) with a bachelor’s in criminal justice and was named a Distinguished Graduate of the university’s Air Force ROTC program. After college, Malcolm served seven years on active duty as an officer and aviator with the U.S. Air Force. He earned his law degree from the North Carolina Central University School of Law.
He resides in Pembroke with his wife, Meloria, and their children.
Malcolm serves on the Revenue Generating Committee
Mr. Jason Roth
Term expires August 31, 2028. Appointed by Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.
Jason Roth is currently the CFO and president of ATM USA. He joined the company in 2005. He also co-owns and helps oversee multiple Mosquito Authority franchises across the country.
Roth began his professional career as a tax consultant with Deloitte & Touche, LLP, in Charlotte. After several years of service there, Roth moved to Raleigh and became the chief operating officer for US Armored, LLC. He also served on the board of directors for the Independent Armored Car Operators Association.
Roth now lives in Cary with his wife, two daughters, and son.
Roth chairs the commission’s Finance and Audit Committee and serves on the Operations and Personnel Committee.
Mrs. Pamela D. Whitaker
Term expires August 31, 2026. Appointed by Gov. Roy Cooper.
Pam Whitaker, a Triad native, is a retired human relations professional with more than 30 years experience in the field. She was founder, owner and CEO of Key Resources, Inc., a full-service, staffing service specializing in distribution, manufacturing, and logistics founded in 1997. She is a Certified Staffing Professional with the American Staffing Association and a member of The Society for Human Resource Management.
Whitaker served previously on the lottery commission, from 2008 to 2012. She has also served on boards and with civic organizations including the Board of Visitors for UNC-Greensboro, the Preservation Greensboro Executive Board, the Board of Trustees for Greensboro College, and First Citizens Bank Board of Trustees.
She was the first woman to be recognized as Small Business Person of the Year by the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the first recipient of the Women in Business Award presented by the Triad Business Journal, and CEO of the Year in the Triad in 2017.
Whitaker and her husband, Garry, live in Winston-Salem. She has three adult children and 2 grandsons.
Whitaker serves on the Sports Betting Committee and chairs the Operations and Personnel Committee.
Commission Staff
Mr. Mark Michalko
Executive Director of the North Caolina Education Lottery since March 2018.
Mark Michalko, a gaming industry veteran who brings more than four decades of experience in both US lottery and international gaming, serves as the Executive Director of the N.C. Education Lottery.
Michalko's broad experience includes executive management roles in both world-class gaming operators and global technology supplier companies across various segments of the gaming industry. Having led gaming businesses based in the US, Asia-Pacific, and Europe, Michalko brings best practices from around the world to North Carolina's lottery.
Before joining the lottery in March 2018, Michalko worked in London where he served as Vice President and Managing Director of International Game Technology's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, following five years in Macau as head of IGT's business in Asia. He also led Intralot's expansion in Asia.
Michalko's lottery experience began in 1980 as Legal Counsel for the Ohio Lottery. In 1985, he was selected as the founding Executive Director of the California State Lottery and led the organization to record revenue and profitability in its first year. He later served as the founding CEO of a publicly listed company that operated the first national draw lottery in the Philippines. He was inducted into the Lottery Industry Hall of Fame in 2019.
Under Michalko’s leadership, the lottery has achieved record sales and returns to education. Annual sales grew by 79% to $4.35 billion in FY 2023 from $2.42 billion the year before Michalko joined the lottery and net revenue to education grew to more than $1 billion, up from $622 million in the same period. The lottery also obtained recertification at the highest level for responsible gaming from the World Lottery Association and was recognized by the Triangle Business Journal as a ‘Best Place to Work.”
Michalko, an Ohio native, received a Bachelor's degree in Government and Political Science from John Carroll University and a Juris Doctorate from Cleveland-Marshall College of Law. He lives in Chapel Hill with his wife, Kimberly. The couple have two adult sons.
Mr. Greg Bowers
Deputy Executive Director: Finance, Administration & Security.
Greg Bowers has decades of experience in the lottery industry. Before joining the NC Education Lottery in June of 2023, he worked with the Ohio Lottery for more than 30 years. While serving as Finance Director in Ohio, his office won the Government Finance Officers Association’s Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting every year.
Bowers is responsible for over 70 lottery employees in the areas of financial reporting, collection, payroll, prize award payment, retailer contracts, and the security and integrity of all lottery drawings and operations.
Bowers holds a Bachelor’s degree from Cleveland State University and a Master of Business Administration from Ashland University.
Mr. Sterl Carpenter
Deputy Executive Director: Gaming Compliance & Sports Betting.
Sterl Carpenter, a veteran gaming professional with more than 30 years of experience, leads the gaming compliance and sports betting division of the N.C. State Lottery Commission.
Prior to joining the commission in August 2023, Carpenter held the position of Sports Wagering Operations Manager for the Massachusetts Gaming Commission. While at the Massachusetts Gaming Commission, he served as Sports Wagering Operations Manager, Regulatory Compliance Manager, and Gaming Agents Supervisor. He played an instrumental role in standing up sports wagering for the Bay State beginning in August 2022.
Prior to that Mr. Carpenter worked for more than 20 years at Foxwoods Resort and Casino. There he held positions of Race Book Writer, Table Games Dealer, Floor Supervisor, Assistant Pit Manager, and Assistant Casino Shift Manager.
Carpenter holds a Bachelor’s degree in Quantitative Economics from the University of Rhode Island.
Mr. William Traurig
Chief Legal Officer
William “Billy” Traurig has more than 25 years of experience in major league sports and venue management.
Before joining the lottery in April 2020, Traurig served as senior vice president and general counsel for the Carolina Hurricanes Hockey Club and PNC Arena. Traurig worked with the Carolina Hurricanes since 1999 and served as senior vice president and general counsel since 2012. He served as general counsel and senior director of finance for the organization from 2008 to 2012.
Traurig received his law degree from NC Central School of Law, where he graduated magna cum laude and served as managing editor of the Law Review, and his Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in accounting from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
He is a former chair of the NC Travel and Tourism Coalition and a former member of the State of North Carolina Travel and Tourism Board.