Rick Carlisle is Managing Partner of Dogwood Equity -- Managers of the North Carolina Economic Opportunities Fund. The Fund invests in high-quality, high-growth companies located outside the major urban areas of North Carolina. Prior to founding Dogwood Equity, Carlisle served as Secretary of Commerce from 1998-2001. He previously served as Economic Policy Advisor to the Governor from April 1993 to August 1997, and as Deputy Secretary of the Department of Commerce until his appointment as Secretary in 1998.

Carlisle has been involved in economic development, development finance and public policy in a variety of roles since 1978. He previously served as a public official, a university economist and as a public policy consultant in several nonprofit corporations. In North Carolina, he was engaged in the design of the Main Street Downtown Development Program, the Community Development Block Grant Program, the State Development Zones Program, the North Carolina Enterprise Corporation, the Microenterprise Development Program, and other initiatives to promote economic development in North Carolina.

Carlisle was also a principal architect of major legislative initiatives to promote North Carolina's economic competitiveness. These include Governor Hunt's 1995 tax reduction package, the 1996 William S. Lee Quality Jobs and Business Expansion Act, and the 1998 Economic Opportunity Act.

As Secretary, Carlisle worked to increase the state's competitiveness for major economic development projects, particularly in the state's rural areas. Successes include a $300 million dollar investment and a $180 million dollar investment in rural Northeastern North Carolina, and the Federal Express East Coast Hub in Greensboro, which will invest $300 million dollars and create 1500 jobs. He also emphasized the state's competitiveness for technology-intensive enterprises and entrepreneurial development.

Carlisle received a BA in Economics from Duke University and a Master of Regional Planning from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is also a graduate of the Government Executives Institute at the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Business. He served in the United States Air Force as a Vietnamese Linguist. He serves on several boards, including the Board of Trustees for Western Carolina University.