Meet Janet Cowell
An experienced public servant and business leader with a record of listening and bringing people together to make Raleigh a place where families can thrive, businesses can grow, and opportunity remains within reach for generations to come.
As Mayor of Raleigh since December 2024, Janet has proven she can lead Raleigh by working together in partnership with the community. She has a long track record of doing so as a Raleigh City Councilor, a North Carolina State Senator, the State Treasurer, the President and CEO of the nonprofit Dix Park Conservancy, and now as Mayor.
In all these roles, she has ensured diligent oversight of taxes, spending, and debt. She has protected our environment and neighborhoods by focusing on stormwater management to prevent flooding, preventing development in our drinking supply watershed, protecting trees, and expanding recycling. She has prioritized Raleigh's public safety, leading significant improvements in first responder compensation and a community policing approach based on engagement. She’s worked to make sure that Raleigh invests in communication between city government and the diverse communities it serves.
Janet was inspired to go into public service by the example set by her parents. Her father was a United Methodist minister and her mother was a school teacher. They showed her every day that building a strong community comes from being engaged and helping those in need. As a result, Janet had early exposure to issues of community poverty, hunger, and the unhoused. Her father’s work required frequent moves. As a result, she had the opportunity to experience how different communities responded to community problems.
Janet is running for Mayor because she knows we need a Raleigh that works together for everyone. To achieve it we need to strengthen our partnerships with the state and county governments, nonprofits, and the business community to both tackle immediate issues and plan for the future. We need to address issues of housing, planning and growth, environmental protection and resilience, public safety, homelessness, and mental health.
Janet will continue to be a Mayor who listens to people, works hard, and does the right thing by working with everyone in our community. with everyone in our community.
In her teens and twenties, Janet studied and worked abroad in Germany, China, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. Through these travels, she saw extreme poverty, as well as restrictions on the rights and freedoms we enjoy in the United States. She earned an MBA with the belief that applying business skills to social issues would help her create change at scale. She worked in the investment finance industry and moved to Raleigh in 1997, where she took the values she learned from her parents and combined them with the education and experiences she had to run for Raleigh City Council.
Taking the oath to serve on the Raleigh City Council
Janet's family outside the United Methodist Church
Janet at the Red Square in Moscow, Russia
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Meet Janet Cowell
An experienced public servant and business leader with a record of listening and bringing people together to make Raleigh a place where families can thrive, businesses can grow, and opportunity remains within reach for generations to come.
PO Box 10541
Raleigh NC, 27605
Paid for by Janet Cowell for Mayor
Dix Park overlooking Raleigh skyline
As Mayor of Raleigh since December 2024, Janet has proven she can lead Raleigh by working together in partnership with the community. She has a long track record of doing so as a Raleigh City Councilor, a North Carolina State Senator, the State Treasurer, the President and CEO of the nonprofit Dix Park Conservancy, and now as Mayor.
Taking the oath to serve on the Raleigh City Council
In all these roles, she has ensured diligent oversight of taxes, spending, and debt. She has protected our environment and neighborhoods by focusing on stormwater management to prevent flooding, preventing development in our drinking supply watershed, protecting trees, and expanding recycling. She has prioritized Raleigh's public safety, leading significant improvements in first responder compensation and a community policing approach based on engagement. She’s worked to make sure that Raleigh invests in communication between city government and the diverse communities it serves.
Throughout her career, Janet has brought people together: across neighborhoods, across sectors, and across the aisle. Prior to being elected Mayor, Janet led the Dix Park Conservancy as President & CEO and raised $40 million in private funds for the creation of Gipson Play Plaza as well as tn restoration of the historic chapel and stone houses.
Janet’s most recent path to city hall was shaped by a prior fifteen years of elected public service, including as Raleigh city councilor, NC State Senator and State Treasurer. She was the first and only woman to serve as State Treasurer and oversaw $100 billion in pension assets and health benefits for nearly a million public sector workers and retirees.
Janet earned her undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business. More than title or credentials, Janet is guided by her commitment to Raleigh and her belief that people flourish when they are connected with their neighbors and meaningfully engaged in their community.
Janet will continue to be a Mayor who listens to people, works hard, and does the right thing by working with everyone in our community.
Janet's Family outside the United Methodist Church