About Jeffrey

Jeffrey Starkweather, co-founder and former chair of the Chatham Coalition, has been a citizen advocate since moving to Pittsboro more than 35 years ago. He is secretary of the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation, co-chair of the Chatham Housing Coalition, a longtime civil rights attorney and a former member of the County Planning Board. He was editor and co-publisher of the Chatham County Herald for 11 years.

Through the Chatham Coalition, Jeffrey and Sally collaborated with diverse citizens and community leaders to develop a platform of issues. They successfully supported candidates for county commissioners and school board. Starkweather co-founded Pittsboro Together in 2005 and successfully supported candidates for Mayor and Town Board.

Starkweather has spent the past year working with the Chatham Economic Development Corporation, consultants from the University of North Carolina and others to develop a strategic plan emphasizing “place-based” economic development, including green and high-tech industry, small businesses, arts, recreation and tourism. Before devoting himself full-time to his campaign, he served as the part-time Executive Director of the North Carolina Smart Growth Alliance.

In 2005 he was a Fellow of the Institute of Political Leadership and in 2006 he was named Tar Heel of the Week by the Raleigh News and Observer.

He has served on the boards of Chatham’s Affordable Housing Task Force, Mid-Carolina Workforce Development, Chatham Citizens for Effective Communities and ChathamArts. He is a member of the Triangle J Smart Growth Committee, Haw River Assembly, Friends of the Rocky River, Sierra Club and Chatham Democratic Women.

He has worked as a federal public defender and civil rights attorney specializing in employment, disabilities and mental health issues. From 2004 to2006 he was an attorney for the Governor’s Advocacy Council for Persons with Disabilities.

He has a law degree from N.C. Central University and an undergraduate degree in political science and economics from the University of Redlands. He has also studied city and regional planning at the graduate level at UNC-Chapel Hill.

A competitive tennis player and avid bicyclist, he co-founded the Chatham Soccer League in 1983 and served as a volunteer coach for three years.

Starkweather worked for the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare in Washington D.C. (1970-72) as a staff advisor for civil rights, equal employment opportunity and operational planning. He also served as an administrative assistant to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Hugh Scott (1969-70).

He has been married to Dee Reid for 22 years. He has two children who graduated from Northwood High School and his daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters live in northern Chatham.