Art Pope
| Art Pope | |
|---|---|
| Budget Director of North Carolina | |
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In office January 6, 2013 – September 2014 |
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| Succeeded by | Lee Roberts |
| Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 61st district |
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In office 1988–1992 |
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In office 1999–2002 |
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| Personal details | |
| Born |
James Arthur Pope May 5, 1956 Fayetteville, North Carolina |
| Nationality | American |
| Political party | Republican |
| Occupation | Businessman, attorney, philanthropist |
James Arthur "Art" Pope (born May 5, 1956) is a North Carolina philanthropist, businessman, attorney and former government official. Pope is president and chairman of the John William Pope Foundation. He is also the CEO and chairman of Variety Wholesalers, a group of 385 retail stores across 15 southern states.
He previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and recently served as the Budget Director for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.
He co-founded the American conservative North Carolina think tanks the John Locke Foundation and the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.
Pope was born May 5, 1956 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to John W. and Joyce Wilkins Pope. He spent his early childhood in the town of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. He moved with his family to the capital city of Raleigh, North Carolina in the early 1960s. Pope graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978 with a B.A. with honors in political science, and went on to earn his J.D. from the Duke University School of Law in 1981.
Pope was engaged in a general law practice as an associate attorney with the firm of Skvarla, Boles, Wyrick and From in Raleigh, from 1982 through 1984. In 1984, Pope took a leave of absence from the firm to work as the director of organization for the North Carolina gubernatorial campaign of Jim Martin. Pope served as special counsel to Governor Jim Martin in 1985.
In 1986, Pope joined the family business, the retail discount chain Variety Wholesalers. Pope has held several positions with Variety Wholesalers Inc., first as general counsel, then vice-president of administration and information systems, chief financial officer, executive vice-president. Beginning in 2006, Pope began serving as president, CEO, and chairman of the board. Variety Wholesalers, Inc. is a privately held company based in Henderson, North Carolina, which owns more than 385 retail stores in the southeast including the Roses and Maxway stores, and employs more than 7,000 workers. It originated in 1930 as a small group of retail stores owned by the Pope family and has expanded by purchasing a number of other retail chains to become one of the largest in the US. The company is still privately owned by the Pope family.
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Wikipedia