Fairbanks Promoted to Executive Director of IDS

The Indigent Defense Services Commission named Whitney B. Fairbanks Indigent Defense Services executive director in August. Fairbanks fills the position left open by the retirement of former Executive Director and NCAJ Past President Mary Pollard. Fairbanks will serve a four-year term.

Fairbanks steps into the role after a decade as the agency’s assistant director and general counsel.

Fairbanks earned her law degree from Gonzaga University School of Law, after finishing her undergraduate degree at the University of Tennessee. She worked as an assistant public defender in Durham County in 2005. From 2008 to 2013 she was the Civil Defender Educator for the UNC School of Government, then spent three years as assistant legal counsel in the NCAOC’s Office of General Counsel before joining IDS in 2016.

As assistant director and general counsel, she helped lead statewide systems changes like the Managed Assigned Counsel (MAC) program and worked with cross-functional teams of staff, public defenders, commissioners and other stakeholders.

Fairbanks is a member of NCAJ’s Criminal Defense Section and Women’s Caucus.