Biography
The Experience to Make a Difference
Michael Weisel has spent thirty years in financial and legal services helping people and businesses succeed. Through
three decades, he has built a reputation as an innovative thinker and leader in the financial community. He has earned
the respect of his peers in the industry and kept close ties with the community, volunteering his financial knowledge
to help non-profit groups and community boards. Now, he wants to put his experience to use as North Carolina's next
Treasurer.
As a member of the State Banking Commission, Michael led the fight to crack down on predatory lenders charging North
Carolinians interest rates as high as 36%. He organized and developed a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program
to assist low-income and elderly citizens of Harnett County with their preparation of income tax returns.
Financial Leadership
Throughout his financial career, Michael held increasingly responsible positions with national companies. He served as
an investment manager and pension fund advisor supervising financial and treasury functions. In addition, he helped
municipalities create and market bond issues, and during his financial career managed more than $1.25 billion in value
of asset investments.
Michael served as a vice president of Wells Fargo Bank, identifying, structuring, and closing more than $130 million in
direct equity investments. He also served as vice president and portfolio manager for Kemper Financial Services, a
Chicago-based $62 billion investment advisor firm, where he was responsible for the investment and management of a
$450 million portfolio for insurance companies and pension funds.
For 1993 to 1995, Michael served as Trustee for the North Carolina Teachers' and State Employees' Retirement Systems,
and the North Carolina Local Government Employees' Retirement System, governing the administration of the retirement
system's then $32 billion pension fund assets. These pension funds now total more than $75 billion, making the North
Carolina Retirement System the 10th largest in the nation.
Sound financial management and economic development were hallmarks of Michael's service as a corporate director and
secretary of the North Carolina Railroad Company, the state's oldest corporation (1848). He also served as Chair
of the Railroad's Audit Committee from 1999 to 2004. As Chairman of Foreign Trade Zone #93, Michael actively promotes
foreign trade activity and economic development within the Raleigh/Durham area.
Currently, Michael is an attorney with
Bailey and Dixon, L.L.P.
in Raleigh, North Carolina where he specializes in business law, securities arbitration, corporate finance, mergers,
acquisitions and divestitures, commercial real estate, campaign and elections law, and government relations.
Michael's peers in the legal community have ranked him at the highest level of professional excellence and standards
of conduct and ethics.
Democratic Leadership
Beyond the financial world, Michael has been an active and dedicated member of the Democratic Party since college
days. He first worked as a staffer for Robert Morgan's 1980 U.S. Senate campaign. Later he joined the Carter/Mondale
campaign, working field and advance in North Carolina and southern Virginia. There, Michael displayed his get-it-done
attitude when he persuaded a local farmer to make a radio spot for the campaign and then raised the money to produce and
air it.
Taking his political leadership to the grassroots level, Michael served as the President of the Durham County Young
Democrats from 1980 to 1982. He has served as precinct chair, vice-chair and was elected twice as Chairman of the
Wake County Democratic Party. At the state level, he was first elected to the State Executive Committee of the
North Carolina Democratic Party in 1997, and serves as a committee member today. Even when his career required his presence
in other cities, Michael continued co-chairing or hosting fundraisers for many North Carolina Democratic candidates,
such as Jim Hunt's and Harvey Gantt's U.S. Senate campaigns.
Community Leadership
As a community leader, Michael volunteers his financial experience on numerous community boards. He chairs Wake
County Smart Start, Inc., a nonprofit organization responsible for allocation and distribution of over $19 million
annually to serve Wake County's neediest families for early childhood education, health, and family support programs.
Prior to becoming Chairman, Michael served as Treasurer, chairing Smart Start's Audit Committee. He also served on
the board for Edenton Street Methodist Child Development Center from 1996 to 1998.
While a board member of the North Carolina Board of Community Colleges, the governing body of 58 community colleges
and one technology center, Michael served as Vice Chair of the Finance and Capital Needs Committee and Audit
Sub-Committee. One of the Board's main responsibilities is the equitable distribution of funds and fiscal
accountability for the Community College System's approximate $780 million annual budget.
Michael put himself through college with a variety of part-time jobs, including work as a legal clerk to law firms
and the General Counsel's office of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). He earned an undergraduate
degree in History, Accounting and Business Management from Guilford College in Greensboro and a law degree from
Campbell University School of Law. He recently earned a master's degree in 2003 from North Carolina State University
in History, and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in business history from Duke University.
Michael lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, Deborah Lamm Weisel, a Wilson native, their two daughters,
Avery (age 13), Schuyler (age 9), and their two Shar Pei adopted rescue dogs.