Governor James B. Hunt, Jr.
Governor Hunt was born in Greensboro, North Carolina. He grew up on a farm in Wilson County, where he and his wife now raise beef cattle. He received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural education in 1959 and a master’s in agricultural economics in 1962 from North Carolina State University. He earned a law degree from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill School of Law in 1964. From 1964 to 1966, he served as a Ford Foundation economic advisor to Nepal. He served as lieutenant governor from 1973 to 1977 and as governor from 1977 to 1985. Reelected in 1992 and again in 1996, Governor Hunt served a historic fourth term.
Source: National Governors Association
Governor James G. Martin
Governor Martin was born in Savannah, Georgia. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Davidson College in 1957 and his PH.D. from Princeton University in 1960. From 1960 to 1972 he taught chemistry at Davidson College. In 1966 he bagan the first of three terms as Mecklenburg County Commissioner and served as chair. He also founded the nine-county Centralina Council of Governments. He served as its chair from 1968 to 1972. In 1970, he was elected president on the North Carolina Association of Regional Councils. From 1973 to 1984, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives, where he served six terms. During his tenure, he chaired the House Republican Research Committee and served on the House Ways and Means Committee. He served as president of the Council of State Governments and chair of the Southern Regional Education Board, the Southern Growth Policies Board, and the Southern Technology Council. He was elected governor in November 1984 and reelected in November 1988.
Source: National Governors Association
Justice Burley B. Mitchell, Jr.
Justice Mitchell retired as the Chief Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court to head Womble Carlyle’s appellate advocacy and government relations groups. As a judge, he authored 484 appellate decisions for the Supreme Court of North Carolina and the North Carolina Court of Appeals. For more than 30 years, Justice Mitchell has served both as an advocate and judge in handling landmark cases in North Carolina and elsewhere in the United States. He has been involved in a wide range of cases as diverse as appearing as amicus for the State of North Carolina in establishing that the United States Constitution does not include a right to public education to successfully establishing the constitutionality of a statutory cap on punitive damages in 2004.
Source: Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, LLP