Matt Meyer | |
---|---|
New Castle County Executive | |
Assumed office January 3, 2017 |
|
Preceded by | Tom Gordon |
Personal details | |
Born | Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. |
Matthew S. Meyer is an American politician, teacher, and attorney. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he was elected New Castle County Executive in 2016.
A native of Wilmington, Delaware, he became a bar mitzvah at Congregation Beth Shalom and is a current member. In his youth he was also an active member of B'nai Brith Youth Organization - AZA. He graduated from Wilmington Friends School and cum laude from Brown University, where he double concentrated in political science and computer science. He graduated from the University of Michigan Law School, where he was a member of the Michigan Law Review.
After university, Meyer taught public school in Washington, D.C., for three years. He has also taught at Prestige Academy in Wilmington. He won a prestigious Skadden Fellowship upon graduation from law school and used it to work for Community Legal Aid in Wilmington. He then became an attorney for three years working in mergers and acquisitions with Simpson Thatcher and Bartlett LLP. He served in Iraq as a diplomat for the U.S. State Department, worked as an economic advisor to Governor Jack Markell and was a partner at Potomac Law Group. He has started two businesses, Ecosandals and VituMob. He appeared on CNN to discuss Ecosandals and on using technology to create jobs in poor neighborhoods. In 2003 at the Kennedy Center in Washington, Meyer was awarded the Sam Beard Jefferson Award for the Greatest Public Service by an Individual 35 Years and Under; at that same ceremony Condoleeza Rice received a Jefferson Award. Al Gore's Current TV called him an All Around Superhuman.
In the Democratic primary for New Castle County Executive on September 13, Meyer defeated incumbent Tom Gordon by a margin of 4.66% in the primary, winning 21,487 votes (52.33%) to Gordon's 19,678 votes (47.67%). Meyer defeated Republican Mark Blake in the general election in November with 67% of the vote. He took office on January 3, 2017.