The Veterans Life Center Advisory Board is a body that provides non-binding strategic advice to Management and the Board of Directors. This group provides greater flexibility in structure and management compared to the Board of Directors.
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 an historic fourth term. The James B. Hunt, Jr. Library at North Carolina State University, as well as a high school in Wilson County and a residence hall at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics are all named after Governor Hunt.
Governor James G. Martin
Governor Martin was born in Savannah, Georgia. He received a Bachelor of Science degree from Davidson College and a PH.D from Princeton University. He taught chemistry at Davidson College. In 1966 he began the first of three terms as Mecklenburg County Commissioner and served as chair. From 1973 to 1984, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. 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.
U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick
Representative Myrick served on the Charlotte City Council from 1983-1985 prior to being the first (and only) woman elected to serve as the Mayor of Charlotte in 1987, and again in 1989. In 1994 she was elected to the first of 9 terms as the Representative from the 9th Congressional District. Along with serving as the Vice-Chair of the Energy and Commerce Committee, she was named Chair of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Human Intelligence, Analysis and Counter-Intelligence in the 112th Congress. An experienced small businesswoman, she is the former President and CEO of Myrick Advertising and Public Relations and Myrick Enterprises. Sue is a wife, mother of two children and three step-children. She and her husband Ed have 12 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Her son Dan Forest was elected as Lt. Governor of North Carolina in 2012.
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 as both 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.
Don Comer
Don Comer is Chief Executive Officer of Bobbitt Design-Build, Inc. , the Carolinas’ largest and most experienced general contractor and architectural firm, specializing in commercial and industrial design-build projects. He is a graduate of Georgia Southern University and a veteran of the United States Navy Seabees. He served as Chairman of the Veterans Life Center from 2016 to 2018, during the critical time of construction of the facility. He has also served as Chairman of the Butler Buildings Advisory Council and the Employees Stock Ownership Plan Association.
V. Lane Wharton, Jr.
Attorney Lane Wharton received his B.S. degree from Louisiana-Lafayette University and his J.D. from the University of Chicago. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves and as Vice Chairman of the Veterans Life Center. He has practiced law before the North Carolina Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals and the N.C Court of Appeals. He has also served on the Boards of Directors of the North Carolina Pottery Center and the North Carolina Community Food Bank.
