Dana S. Cope was named Executive Director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) in April of 2000. Cope is passionate about SEANC’s mission to protect and enhance the rights and benefits of current, retired and future state employees. As head of the 55,000‐member association, he serves as chief media spokesman for state employees and retirees and as their number‐one lobbyist in the North Carolina General Assembly. Cope is also SEANC’s chief executive officer responsible for managing the association’s 40‐person professional office staff.

Under Cope’s leadership, SEANC has scored numerous victories for state employees and retirees, including the following:

• Securing the largest back‐to‐back pay increases in nearly two decades (5.5% in 2006 and 4% in 2007)
• Suing the governor in 2001 over escrowed retirement funds and facilitating full $130 million repayment
• Growing EMPAC from NC’s 276th largest political action committee in 2002 to 11th in 2008
• Protecting premium‐free health care for state employees
• Affiliating with the Service Employees International Union to strengthen SEANC’s voice

Before coming to SEANC, Cope was Director of Governmental Affairs for the North Carolina Department of Labor for eight years and previously ran a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. Cope holds a Bachelor of Science degree in political science from Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and certificates from the Carolina AFL‐CIO Labor Law School and Harvard Law School Program of Negotiation.

He, his wife Melinda and two sons reside in Raleigh, North Carolina.

SEANC, SEIU Local 2008, is the South’s leading state employees’ association 55,000 members strong.