PALS - Deborah C. Bryan

Deborah Bryan is the NC State Executive and Regional VP of Advocacy of the American Lung Association- Atlantic Coast. Over the past 24 years with the ALA of NC, Deborah has served in the state office for 21 years: as the President and CEO since November 2002; Director of Program and Government Relations; and as State Program Director. She advanced to the state office from the field where she served as Regional Director and Program Director of the ALA of NC, Eastern Region. Since 1994 she has been responsible for grant awards to the association that now total more than half a million annually.

She received her undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and her Masters of Education degree in Administration and Supervision from East Carolina University. She is certified in Non-Profit Management through Duke University.

Deborah is active in numerous organizations including the NC Center for Non-Profits and the NC Public Health Association; and serves as Secretary of the statutory NC Substance Abuse Professional Practice Board as well as an Ethics Committee member. She was recently recognized for her extensive work in tobacco use prevention and cessation by the NC Health and Wellness Trust Fund with the 2007 Power of Prevention Award, presented by Chair, Lt. Gov Beverly Perdue.

In her tenure with ALA of NC, she has advanced key issues of the organization to make them priorities in the state. Under her leadership, significant policy initiatives have been achieved, including increasing the state tobacco excise tax; creation of the Health & Wellness Trust fund from Tobacco Settlement monies; restrictions on youth access to tobacco products and smoking in public places; enabling employers to require employees to be non-smokers if it relates to their work; tobacco excise tax increase; and allowing asthmatic students to carry their inhalers at school. She was instrumental in the establishment of the Tobacco Prevention & Control Branch in the Dept of Health & Human Services as the end result of the multi-year Project ASSIST program, as well as the creation of an Asthma position in the Chronic Disease Section of DHHS.

She worked with the Dept of Environment and Natural Resources to pass the Clean Smokestacks Act in 2002, resulting in NC having the strongest law on ozone in the US. In this effort, the ALA of NC held an Air Summit with Governor Michael Easley as the keynote speaker.

Deborah also has served for many years as the Chair of the TB & Respiratory Disease Institute; served as Staff Representative to NC Medial Society’s Tobacco Control Committee; NC Alliance for Cancer Coordination and Control Tobacco Workgroup; Governor’s Interagency Workgroup on Tobacco Education and Enforcement; Statewide Flu & Pneumonia Task Force; Statewide Asthma Initiative and is also the Association’s registered lobbyist.