Former EPA Administrator Regan ‘98 Appointed to Board of Trustees

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Feb. 20, 2026) – Michael S. Regan, 16^th administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, 17^th secretary of the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and 1998 alumnus of North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, has been appointed to the N.C. A&T Board of Trustees (BOT).

Retired Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Paul Jones ‘71, a former BOT member, presided over Regan’s swearing-in ceremony during the board’s full board meeting Friday, Feb. 20. The University of North Carolina System Board of Governors approved Regan’s appointment Nov. 20, 2025, and his term runs through June 30, 2029.

Regan is founder and CEO of M4 Strategies LLC, sits on the board of Strata Clean Energy and Environmental Defense Action Fund and serves as a Polis Distinguished Fellow for the Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy where he is actively involved with the Civil Discourse Project. As EPA administrator, he was CEO of a federal regulatory agency with more than 16,000 employees and an annual operating budget north of $10 billion designing investment strategies toward healthy and equitable communities. He traveled across the country and around the world meeting face-to-face with communities hardest hit by environmental pollution and threats to public health. In his first year in this role, he established the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, the first national program office in the agency’s history dedicated to solving environmental challenges in economically distressed and frontline communities.

As state DEQ secretary, Regan led complex negotiations and spearheaded the development and implementation of North Carolina’s seminal plan to address climate change and transition the state to a clean energy economy. In addition, he established North Carolina's first-of-its-kind Environmental Justice and Equity Advisory Board to better align social inequities, environmental protection, and community empowerment.

Regan’s commitment to excellence has been acknowledged through several awards including Time Magazine TIME100 Next, Time Magazine TIME100 Health, the HBCU Honors Distinguished Public Service Award, Boys and Girls Club of America Alumni Hall of Fame, Keystone Policy Center Leadership Award, and the NNPA National Legacy Award.

With his B.S. in earth and environmental science from A&T, Regan is the first EPA administrator to have graduated from a historically Black college or university and the first Black man to hold the Cabinet-level position. He earned a master’s degree in public administration from The George Washington University and received an honorary doctorate from A&T in 2021. He and his wife Melvina, who graduated from A&T in 1999 with a B.A. in psychology, are proud parents of son Matthew and dog Zeus.

The A&T BOT is comprised of 13 individuals with eight elected by the UNC Board of Governors, four appointed by the North Carolina General Assembly and one ex officio (the president of the A&T Student Government Association). The term of office of all trustees, except the ex officio member, is four years.

Its duties are to promote the sound development of the university and serve as advisor to the UNC Board of Governors on matters pertaining to the university, as well as to advise the chancellor concerning the management and development of the university.