After graduating from Ragsdale High School in Jamestown, Pat McCrory attended Catawba College in Rowan County. He graduated with degrees in Education and Political Science, then packed his bags for Charlotte and went to work full time for Duke Energy. A management-training program put Pat through a rotation of digging ditches and climbing electric poles as well as stints in various management jobs from human resources to economic development.
After being inspired to make a difference in the city of Charlotte, Pat threw his hat into the political arena and decided to run for an at-large city council seat, and won. He won two more times, serving as Mayor Pro Tem in the process. In 1995, Pat was elected Mayor of Charlotte and went on to serve a record seven terms.
The city was on the cusp of an explosion of growth, but it took a visionary leader to help bring Charlotte to the next level and become one of America’s great cities. Mayor Pat brought together teams of people from both parties and across the public and private sectors, showing great leadership on Charlotte’s major issues like economic development, job-creation, infrastructure, transportation, public safety, and education. Tens of thousands of net new jobs were created during Pat’s tenure as Mayor and Charlotte became an economic hub in transportation, banking, manufacturing, energy, and tourism. Pat successfully reduced property taxes as well as the city’s crime rate.
Pat founded the Mayor’s Mentoring Alliance in 1995 and personally served as a mentor to youth in the city. In 2005, Charlotte was named in the 100 Best Communities for Youth by America’s Promise. Pat has been involved in many local charity boards, and served as the honorary chair for the Charlotte chapter of the Alzheimer’s Foundation and the Arthritis Foundation. He also served as the Chair of the Republican Mayors Association and received a presidential appointment to the Homeland Security Advisory Committee.
In 2001, Pat founded the North Carolina Metropolitan Mayors Association, a bipartisan group of mayors working together to find common solutions to problems facing North Carolina’s cities. After leaving the Mayor’s Office in 2009, Pat joined the Charlotte-based firm Moore & Van Allen to consult on energy issues, economic development, and strategic initiatives and began serving on the boards of two great North Carolina-headquartered companies, Lending Tree and Kewaunee Scientific.
In 2012, Pat McCrory decided to make a second run for governor and won. His focus on the campaign was fixing North Carolina’s broken economy and broken government. In his victory speech on Election Night, Pat stated, “We need to exceed our potential. Every one of us… And if we all exceed our potential, North Carolina will be number one again.” It was with that spirit and the lessons instilled in him by his parents many years ago that Pat took the oath of office, becoming the 74th governor of the great State of North Carolina. He and his wife, Ann, live with their dog, Mo.
