Architect. Coach. Innovator.
Dan Forest was born in Harrisonburg, Va. in 1967 and raised in Charlotte, N.C. He is the son of former U.S. House Rep. and Charlotte Mayor, Sue Myrick. Forest spent part of his early education in Charlotte public schools and graduated from Irmo High School in Columbia, S.C. Forest earned a degree in architecture from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and formerly served on the UNC Charlotte College of Architecture Advisory Board. After college, he eventually became the Office President and Senior Partner of the state’s largest architectural firm, Little Diversified Architectural Consulting.
In his first run for public office, he was elected lieutenant governor of North Carolina in 2012 and became only the second Republican elected to the office since 1897. As lieutenant governor, Forest presides over the North Carolina Senate as President of the Senate. He is a voting member of the North Carolina Council of State, the North Carolina State Board of Education and the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges. He is the chairman of the Governor’s eLearning Commission and a member of the State Board of Education’s Special Committee on Digital Learning. His passion is innovation through education, and he supports mastery based learning. Forest has helped create the North Carolina Education Endowment Fund to increase teacher compensation.
Forest lives in Raleigh with his wife, Alice, and his four children, who were or are currently being homeschooled. His interests include architecture, golf, innovations, politics, spending time with his family, and coaching youth football, baseball and basketball teams.
Editor’s Note: EdNC will be posting leadership profiles on the policymakers influencing education in North Carolina. Recently, I met with a member of our General Assembly. He noted that upon becoming a legislator people started treating him like an object. I come from a family that values public service, period. You know our policymakers as politicians. I hope our profiles help you know them better as people. EdNC wants you to be comfortable walking into the legislature, interacting with the legislators, and participating in state government – it is your government after all.
