Gov. Mike Easley

Under Governor Michael F. Easley’s leadership, North Carolina’s top ranked business climate prospers while the state leads the nation in education progress. Easley has restored fiscal discipline to the state’s finances while, at the same time, increasing investments in education and infrastructure – key components to recruiting and retaining high quality jobs and industry for the state. Easley’s actions put North Carolina in the top five in the country in net job growth for 2004, earned the state a number one ranking for business expansions and locations, and ensured recognition in the top four in the country for the state’s financial management.

A top priority in Easley’s economic development strategy is continued investments in education. Despite budget challenges, Easley worked to reduce class size in grades K-3, and implemented the first statewide pre-kindergarten program for at-risk four-year-olds. More at Four ensures that children get the tools that they need for success. Under Easley’s leadership, North Carolina scores on national tests are among the top in the country.

Easley also launched an effort to reform the state’s high schools. Through Learn and Earn, students now have the chance to complete an associate’s degree in conjunction with their high school curricula and ensure that they are better prepared to enter the workforce upon graduation. The state’s highly rated university and community college systems also provide citizens the opportunity to advance their education and build their skills for the new global economy.

Easley’s inauguration as Governor followed nearly two decades of public service spent fighting crime, protecting children and the elderly, and standing up for working families. In 1982, he was elected district attorney for the 13th judicial district in Brunswick, Bladen and Columbus counties. One of the state’s youngest district attorneys ever, he was named among USA Today’s top “drug busters.” He was elected as North Carolina’s attorney general in 1992 and reelected to a second term in 1996. As attorney general, he worked to remove the state’s prison cap and helped create an environmental crimes task force and a citizens’ rights division to combat hate crimes, child abuse and elder abuse. He spearheaded efforts to reach the historic national tobacco settlement and expanded the Child Victims Assistance Project statewide, a program he began in the southeast when he served as district attorney.

Born in Nash County, North Carolina in 1950, Easley was raised on a tobacco farm the second of seven children. Easley received his B.A. in Political Science from the University of North Carolina in 1972 with honors. In 1975, he earned his law degree from North Carolina Central University School of Law. He graduated cum laude from law school and also served as Managing Editor of the Law Review.

Governor and Mrs. Easley have been married for more than 25 years and have one child, Michael Jr., age 22. Mrs. Easley teaches Legal Aspects of Police Supervision at N.C. State University’s Administrative Officer’s Management Program, a graduate level management course for police executives from throughout the United States.