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Janet Cowell (born July 19, 1968) is the former
North Carolina State Treasurer The North Carolina State Treasurer is a statewide elected office in the U.S. state of North Carolina responsible for overseeing the financial operations of state government. The current state treasurer is Dale Folwell. The office of state treas ...
, serving from 2009 to 2017, and is the first woman to hold that position in North Carolina. She was previously a two-term member of the
Raleigh City Council Raleigh City Council is the governing body for the city of Raleigh, the state capital of North Carolina. Raleigh is governed by council-manager government. It is composed of eight members, including the Mayor of Raleigh. Five of the members a ...
and a two-term
Democratic Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...
member of the North Carolina Senate, representing Wake County.


Early life and education

Cowell was born in
Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 Uni ...
. She graduated from the
University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universit ...
(BA), Penn's
Wharton School of Business The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania ( ; also known as Wharton Business School, the Wharton School, Penn Wharton, and Wharton) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in ...
( MBA), and the Lauder Institute (Master's in International Studies).


Career

Cowell previously worked as an analyst with
HSBC HSBC Holdings plc is a British multinational universal bank and financial services holding company. It is the largest bank in Europe by total assets ahead of BNP Paribas, with US$2.953 trillion as of December 2021. In 2021, HSBC had $10.8 tri ...
and
Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...
, coming to
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...
in 1997. While in Raleigh she was also a consultant with SJF Ventures as well as Sibson & Co. and, in 2000, went to work for the Common Sense Foundation.


Political career

In 2001 Cowell decided to run for Raleigh City Council. She was elected to one of the At-large seats along with Neal Hunt. She was re-elected with Hunt to the At-large seats in 2003. In 2004, Cowell ran for the District 16 State Senate seat held by the retiring Eric Miller Reeves. Cowell won the Democratic party primary with 49% of the vote over Jack Nichols, Carter Worthy and Mike Shea. She went on to face Republican nominee Mark Bradrick, an insurance appraiser and
Desert Storm The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...
veteran, and
Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...
Jason Mara in the general election. Cowell won the seat with 59% to 38% for Bradrick and 3% for Mara. She was completely unopposed in her 2006 re-election campaign.


As State Treasurer

Cowell announced that she would seek the Democratic nomination for North Carolina State Treasurer in July 2007. She faced Michael Weisel, a Raleigh attorney, and David Young, a Buncombe County Commissioner, in the primary election, winning the nomination with 46.43% of the vote. In the 2008 general election, Cowell defeated the Republican nominee, businessman and former
State House State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...
member
Bill Daughtridge William Gray "Bill" Daughtridge Jr. (December 19, 1952 – September 2, 2019) was a businessman from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, who served three terms from 2003 to 2008 as a Republican member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing ...
, 53.62% to 46.38%. She was sworn-in on January 10, 2009. She was re-elected in
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
over Republican Steve Royal, 53.83% to 46.17%. On October 13, 2015, Cowell announced that she would not seek reelection or election to any other office in 2016.


Awards and honors

In 2012, Cowell was recognized as a "rising state and local leader" by
The NewDEAL The NewDEAL is an American Democratic Party-affiliated political organization founded in 2011 by honorary co-chairs Governor Martin O'Malley of Maryland and U.S. Senator Mark Begich of Alaska to promote "pro-growth progressive state and local electe ...
. In July 2013, Cowell was ranked #21 globally on the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute's Public Investor 100.http://www.swfinstitute.org/public-investor-100/janet-cowell/ Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute


Electoral history


References


External links

* * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Cowell, Janet 1968 births 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Living people Democratic Party North Carolina state senators Politicians from Memphis, Tennessee Raleigh City Council members State treasurers of North Carolina Women state legislators in North Carolina Women city councillors in North Carolina