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Official website of the State of North Carolina

Elaine F. Marshall

North Carolina Secretary of State

In 1996, Secretary of State Elaine F. Marshall became the first woman ever elected to a statewide, executive branch office in North Carolina and has served as President of the National Association of Secretaries of State. Voters re-elected her to a seventh term in 2020, and Governor Cooper presented her with the NC Order of the Long Leaf Pine award in 2022, the Governor’s highest award for service to the State. A former teacher, small business owner, and private practice attorney, Secretary Marshall was elected to the NC Senate before rising to statewide office.

Under Secretary Marshall’s administration, more than 1.8 million businesses have been formed, she has pioneered e-commerce in government, protected investors and intellectual property owners, and promoted financial capital formation in North Carolina.

Secretary Marshall has been very active in many civic groups in the areas of child welfare, women's issues, and agriculture and small town economic development. She credits 4-H as an important part of her youth and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from North Carolina 4-H and in 2014 was inducted into the National 4-H Hall of Fame .

She holds a B.S. in Home Economics from the University of Maryland and a law degree from Campbell University. She has received Honorary Doctorate Degrees from Campbell University, Lees-McRae College, Meredith College and the Republic of Moldova State University of Medicine.

Since becoming Secretary of State, she has received numerous state and national awards for leadership in technology, government innovation, and women's leadership. These awards include:

  • The First Annual Achievement Award from the national Notary Public Administrators Section of the National Association of Secretaries of State in 2023, also named in her honor as the Jaeger-Marshall NPA Achievement Award;
  • The 2023 creation of the Elaine F. Marshall Academic Scholarship from the North Carolina Notary Association (NCNA) for Active NCNA members;
  • The 2022 Champion for Children Award from the North Carolina Foundation for Public School Children;
  • The 2020 Ray of Light award from Boundless Impact for her decades of work advancing North Carolina’s Global Competitiveness;
  • The N.C. Bar Association’s 2020 Chief Justice I. Beverly Lake Jr. Public Service Award;
  • The 2019 Brand Protection Hero Award from the Center for Anti-Counterfeiting and Product Protection (A-CAPP);
  • The 2018 Person of the Year Award from The Women’s Business Center of North Carolina and was inducted into the North Carolina Women Business Owners Hall of Fame the same year;
  • The 2017 International Trade Lifetime Achievement Award from the Charlotte Business Journal;
  • The 2017 Woman of Achievement Award from Meredith College;
  • Leadership North Carolina’s 2016 Award for Public Service; and
  • She has been recognized as a leader in state trademark protection by the US Chamber of Commerce, the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition and Underwriters Laboratories --- just to name a few.