Peter Buchholtz has spent more than 30 years in corrections and has risen through the ranks to serve as a warden, region director, and now Deputy Secretary of Institutions for the newly established NC Department of Adult Correction.
He began his corrections career as a correctional narcotics K-9 officer for the South-Central Region Office in 1992 and transitioned to correctional officer at Sampson Correctional Institution. He was promoted to sergeant at Robeson Correctional Center and progressed to unit manager at Scotland Correctional Institution in 2002. In 2005, Buchholtz was promoted to assistant superintendent of custody and operations at Hoke Correctional Institution and later promoted to administrator at Morrison (now Richmond) Correctional Institution in 2012. Buchholtz was named South-Central Region Director in 2019.
Buchholtz earned a bachelor’s in applied science from Campbell University, where he graduated Summa Cum Laude. He also earned an associate’s in criminal justice from Fayetteville Technical Community College. He was certified as a criminal justice training instructor by the North Carolina Criminal Justice Standards Commission in 1996.
Buchholtz has completed the N.C. Correctional Leadership Development Program, Supervision for Managers Professional Program, and Executive Leadership Development from the Keenan Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Buchholtz is a veteran of the United States Army and served as a Military Police Investigator and AWOL Apprehension Investigator.