ROCKINGHAM — Two Richmond County natives have recently been appointed to state boards, the office of Gov. Roy Cooper announced Monday.
Meghann Lambeth has been appointed to the North Carolina Agriculture Finance Authority.
Lambeth, director of the Richmond County Tourism Development Authority, will serve a three-year term as an at-large member.
Lambeth’s agricultural roots run deep in the sands of Derby, growing up helping out on the family farm. She learned to drive a tractor at 7 years old and has worked in the fields and at the Triple L Farms produce stand ever since, even during the summers when she was away at college.
After graduating from Richmond Senior High School in 2002, Lambeth attended the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology. She later earned a master’s from UNC-Pembroke. She also earned national board certification for counseling.
Lambeth worked with Richmond County Schools as a counselor from 2008-2019, first at West Rockingham Elementary, then at Mineral Springs Elementary and Ellerbe Middle. She was hired as tourism director in April of 2019.
In addition to her job, Lambeth serves as social media manager for Rockingham Rotary and the Seaboard Festival. She is also president-elect of the rotary, a member of the Richmond County Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and the Rockingham Downtown Corp.
She has one son, who is on the autism spectrum, which led her to leading the Richmond County Chapter of the Autism Society of North Carolina for several years, with her mother Marcia Lambeth.
Click here to read more about Lambeth.
Her father, Jim Lambeth, was appointed to his second term on the N.C. Board of Agriculture earlier this year.
Click here to read that story.
Neil Robinette, a Richmond County native now living in Moore County, was also appointed to the North Carolina Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
Robinette, CEO of C.F. Smith Property Group, is father to a daughter born with profound hearing loss. She has since received cochlear implants to help her hear.
In 2021, Robinette was appointed to the N.C. Interagency Coordinating Council for Children from Birth to Five with Disabilities. Click here to read that story.
Robinette was named a “Trailblazer” by N.C. Business in 2020 and as one of Moore County’s 20 Under 40 by the Pilot newspaper in Southern Pines.
Cooper has made at least a dozen appointments involving individuals from Richmond County since taking office. They include:
- Monty Crump – N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (now serves as chair)
- Gene McLaurin – Economic Development Partnership of N.C. ( now serves as chair)
- William R. “Bill” Webb – Rural Infrastructure Authority of N.C. Commerce
- Dr. John Stevenson, Melanie Carroll and Robert Lee Wallace – Richmond Community College Board of Trustees
- Dr. Cindy Goodman – N.C. School of Science and Math Board of Trustees
- Ken Goodman – N.C. Industrial Commission
- Steve Futrell and Dawn Layton – Superior Court
- Bryan Land – N.C. Forestry Advisory Council
- Maddie Ash – N.C. Respiratory Care Board
