Harold Weinbrecht (born 1956) is an American computer programmer and politician who has been the

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

of Cary, North Carolina since 2007.

Early life

Weinbrecht was born in

Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navig ...

. His family moved to Cary from 1957 to 1967. His uncle was Fred Bond, Jr, the former mayor of Cary. He attended Augusta College and North Carolina State University, receiving a B.S. in both computer science and mathematics.

Politics

In 1997, amid disputes between developers and citizens, Weinbrecht launched the website ''Citizens for Balanced Growth'' where he wrote about local issues and town council meetings. He became the chair of Cary's new Information Services Advisory Board in 1998. In 1999, he was named to Cary’s Planning and Zoning Board. That same year, Weinbrecht was elected to an at-large town council seat. Though his opponent spent six times more on advertising, Weinbrecht was elected mayor of Cary in 2007, winning approval on 58% of ballots cast over incumbent Ernie McAlister. One of the key issues in the election was growth, with Weinbrecht proposing a balanced approach. During his first term as mayor, Weinbrecht formed the Citizen Issue Review Commission and created a town sustainability manager position. Weinbrecht was re-elected as mayor in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, and

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

.Brown, Trent
"Cary mayor re-elected, new council member elected, according to unofficial results"
''

The News & Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the '' Charlotte Observer''). The paper has be ...

'', October 8, 2019. Retrieved January 25, 2020. His current term expires in December 2023."Harold Weinbrecht"
''Town of Cary''. Retrieved January 25, 2020. Weinbrecht was endorsed by Indy Week in 2007 and 2011. He started his political career as a Democrat, but now considers himself to be an Independent.

Professional affiliations

Weinbrecht is a past president of the Wake County Mayors Association. He has also served on the Wake County’s Growth Management Task Force and is chairman of the Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization.

Career

In 1994, he became a programmer for

SAS Institute SAS Institute (or SAS, pronounced "sass") is an American multinational developer of analytics software based in Cary, North Carolina. SAS develops and markets a suite of analytics software ( also called SAS), which helps access, manage, analy ...

. He was previously a simulations engineer. He retired in 2022 after 28 years at SAS.

Personal life

Weinbrecht married his wife Belinda and moved back to Cary in 1987. They have two children. He is a member of Cary Presbyterian Church where he teaches Sunday school. He exercises two hours each day.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinbrecht, Harold 1956 births Living people People from Augusta, Georgia People from Cary, North Carolina Mayors of Cary, North Carolina North Carolina Democrats Augusta State University alumni North Carolina State University alumni 21st-century American politicians American computer programmers American software engineers