Andy Willis is Chief External Affairs Officer (CEAO) for UNC Health Care and UNC School of Medicine. Mr. Willis previously served as the State Budget Officer for the State of North Carolina under Governor Beverly Perdue and as Chief Operating Officer for the Office of State Budget and Management under Governor Pat McCrory.
As Chief of Staff to Dr. Bill Roper, Mr. Willis is utilizing his years of government experience to assist Dr. Roper and other senior staff and executive team members in the design and implementation of collaborative projects with partners throughout the state. He serves on the Senior Executive Team for the School of Medicine and the Health Care System.
Mr. Willis has over 20 years of experience in government and higher education. He began his career in Pamlico County government, followed by time in the North Carolina General Assembly as a senior budget policy and fiscal analyst for the Fiscal Research Division. For four years, he was Assistant to the Chancellor for External Affairs at N.C. State, his alma mater, before being named by UNC President Erskine Bowles as the University of North Carolina General Administration’s Vice President for Government Relations. Mr. Willis returned to state government in 2009 by being appointed as Senior Advisor to the Governor for Government Affairs. In 2011, Mr. Willis was appointed by Governor Perdue to serve as the Director of the Office of State Budget and Management. In this role, he served as the State Budget Officer, Secretary to the Council of State, and as a member of the Governor’s Cabinet. He served as the Governor’s primary fiscal advisor and as one of the three primary fiduciaries for the State of North Carolina. This included providing constitutional and statutory oversight and management of the State of North Carolina’s $50 billion budget.
Mr. Willis holds a Master of Public Administration degree from UNC and a Bachelor of Arts degree from North Carolina State University. He resides in Cary, North Carolina and is married to Jennifer Herrera Willis. They have two sons and one daughter.
