Jeff Barnhart

Board of Directors

Jeff Barnhart was born and raised in upstate New York in the small rural town of Waverly. He went to SUNY Alfred Agricultural & Technical College for two years before joining the US Air Force in 1978. In the Air Force, he worked in Communications Security and held a Top Secret SBI security clearance. While serving in the Air Force, he obtained his B.S. Degree from Southern Illinois University in Industrial Technology in 1981. After his enlistment ended, he went to work for IBM in Endicott, NY in 1982, later transferring to Charlotte, NC in 1985. While at IBM, Jeff’s career included working in engineering, finance, business plans & controls, marketing and management.

Jeff currently is with McGuireWoods Consulting, having joined them in 2011 as a Senior Vice President of State Government Relations. He works out of the firm’s Raleigh office assisting clients and helping the firm grow its state, multistate and national practice. His practice is primarily in the area of health care.

Jeff served five and a half terms in the North Carolina General Assembly representing Cabarrus County before resigning his seat in 2011. In his last term, he was Co-Chair of the House Appropriations Committee and was a strong healthcare proponent earning numerous recognitions from many healthcare organizations. A lot of his work has been in the area of mental health.

Prior to his election to the NC House of Representative, Jeff served as a Cabarrus County Commissioner for 10 years. He was also the acting Cabarrus County Manager for eight months and served on the Board of Directors of the Cabarrus Water & Service Authority Board for six years and the Cabarrus Economic Development Board of Directors for nine years.

In addition to his strong local and state public sector experience, Jeff is also a former small business owner who possesses significant private sector experience. He also spent three years at the helm of a Federally Qualified Health Center.