Nicholas Gadzekpo has been the Building Safety Director since October 2016. With 30 years of public and private sector experience in building code compliance work, Nicholas oversees the department to assure that its three divisions work together to ensure all buildings and structures in the county are safely constructed and maintained for all users.
Before New Hanover County, Nicholas was the building codes and standards consultant for a firm that provides legal research, training, and education to property and casualty professionals of the insurance industry nationwide. And before then, he worked in local governments in Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and Illinois, while holding the certifications required.
Nicholas holds a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the University of Texas at Arlington. He was among the first 44 recognized nationwide as Lead Evaluators, by the International Accreditation Service, to assess building departments for International Code Council (ICC) accreditation. He served on the 2007 Consensus Committee that authored the nation’s first residential National Green Building Standard (published 2008), for the International Code Council and the National Association of Home Builders.
Outside of work, Nicholas enjoys working on math formulas, playing scrabble, listening to classical music, playing drums and percussion instruments, and analyzing the performance of sports teams.
