Executive Director

Barry began his time in the fire service as a member of the Weeksville Volunteer Fire Department in 1987 where he continues to serve today.  He began working fulltime for the Elizabeth City Fire Department in 1988, working through the ranks and retiring as Deputy Chief in 2019.

He obtained many fire, EMS, and law enforcement certifications throughout his career, and studied Fire Administration at Columbia Southern University. Notably, he took a leave of absence from his Fire Marshal’s position in 1997 to pursue Basic Law Enforcement Certification at the College of the Albemarle in order to enhance the fire investigations division within the fire department.  His efforts allowed other members of the Fire Marshal’s Office to become BLET Certified. He remains a reserve officer with the Elizabeth City Police Department and the Pasquotank County Sheriff’s Office.

A highlight of his career was obtaining two accelerant detection K9’s through the State Farm Arson K-9 program over a 15 year period. K-9 “Ransom” retired with Overman and remains part of the family.

Barry served on the Eastern Carolina Firefighters Association board of directors for many years, and served as President 2014-2015. In 2012, he was sworn in as a board member of the North Carolina State Firefighters’ Association, and served as President for the year 2017.

He was elected to serve on the Elizabeth City-Pasquotank School’s Board of Education in 2010 for a 4-year term and was re-elected to a second term in 2014. He served as Board Chair for four years. He was elected to the Pasquotank County Board of Commissioners in 2018 to a four-year term, and was re-elected to an additional 4-year term in 2022 and has served as the Vice-Chairman for the past two years.

After a brief time of retirement from the fire department, Barry returned to work at the NC Office of State Fire Marshal as Division Chief of the Community Risk Reduction Division. In 2022, he returned to his passion of fire investigations and moved to the Fire Investigation Unit where he is currently an investigator for the Northeast Region.

Barry enjoys singing and serves at his local church.  He was the co-founder of the singing group “Step of Faith” in 1996 that traveled and sang at local churches for many years, and continues to travel and sing with his family to date.

He considers being a dad his single greatest accomplishment. He was blessed in 1997 to meet and marry his wife Jeanette, and together they raised three children; Seth, Brooke, and Joel. His oldest son Seth and wife Ellie made him a grandfather in August of this year with the birth of their first grandbaby, Blair Anderson Overman.

Barry has and continues to serve on numerous boards and committees in his local community as well as at the state level, and enjoys the life-long friendships that it has afforded him.