Jeff serves as Deputy Editor for Carolina Journal. His extensive and diverse experience, ranging from capital and media markets to politics, helps inform his approach as a strategist, assignment editor, and writer. Jeff enjoys parsing complex issues to reveal simple truths within a compelling story.
His most recent chapter was spent as Director of Communications for the Republican Party of North Carolina, but the story starts much earlier, and farther east, in Carteret County. Jeff grew up on the waters of Bogue Sound in Morehead City, surfing the Crystal Coast and learning life lessons with his four younger siblings. An admirer of the American Founders and the greatness of their experiment from an early age, he earned a BA in Political Science from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, where he also studied history and economics. Jeff’s further interests in capitalism and iconic American business innovations led him to the fast-paced world of capital markets. He was fortunate to spend several productive years in Raleigh as a professional equity trader, encompassing the historic market volatility and government interventions of the Great Financial Crisis.
Learning more about how government policies move markets and tired of trading digits on a screen, Jeff turned his attention back to politics in the 2012 campaign cycle. He joined the NC Victory Fund and thereafter served in the administration of Republican Governor Pat McCrory working on economic and workforce issues. Jeff went on to serve as capital reporter for the North State Journal covering state politics, as a contributor to Carolina Journal, and as a senior policy analyst for a leading global political risk firm. His insights on markets and politics have been published by the likes of Fox Business Network, Business Insider, Ozy, and Seeking Alpha, in addition to media appearances on CNBC, BBC, and CNBC Japan. Driven by a principled desire to restore America’s limited-government principles, Jeff ran for congress in a 2019 special election to represent eastern North Carolina’s 3rd Congressional District, earning endorsements from free market champions like Sen. Rand Paul and Dr. Ron Paul and finishing in the top tier of a 16-candidate primary field.
Jeff now lives in Johnston County with his wife Ashley and three precious daughters. He takes pride in fatherhood, still enjoys tracking market news and geopolitics, and loves exploring philosophy and metaphysics. Jeff will forever be tempted by great cheeseburgers and, when the weather is warm, can reliably be found traveling eastbound to the Crystal Coast for surfing and time with his growing family.