Bios of Conference Speakers
Mike McIntyre
Mike McIntyre has represented North Carolina's Seventh Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1997. He is now serving in his 4th term.
A leadership survey by the Wilmington Star-News found that Congressman McIntyre is the area's "most powerful and effective leader." Not only was he ranked first among government and political leaders, but he was also "first among all leaders," which included those in positions of business and civic leadership as well.
In Congress, Rep. McIntyre is a member of the House Agriculture Committee and the House Armed Services Committee where he pushes to promote and protect our farm families and is committed to our nation’s servicemen and women, veterans, and military retirees. Additionally, he has been a leader on law enforcement issues, an avid defender of our senior citizens, and a strong advocate for improved health care and education.
Representative McIntyre has taken a common-sense approach to forging a bipartisan consensus on public policy and is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition. From this vantage point, he has played a key role in finding practical solutions to complex problems. The Fayetteville Observer-Times has even noted that Congressman McIntyre’s "stands have earned him high marks from a wide spectrum of political interests." And the Topsail Voice has declared, "His ability to work with both the Republican and the Democratic leadership is a major asset, and the value of that leverage cannot be denied.
Economic development has been at the forefront of Congressman McIntyre's work. Recently Rep. McIntyre was named as the first recipient ever of an international award in public policy by the International Association of Personnel in Employment Security for his efforts to produce job opportunities and increase worker training. The National Association of Development Organizations has also honored Representative McIntyre for his leadership in regional economic development, and the Southern Economic Development Council has chosen him four times for its Legislative Honor Roll. In 2002 he also won the North Carolina Employment Security Advancing Workforce Development Award. He is the Chairman of the Business and Technology Task Force for the Blue Dog Coalition. He is also Co-Chairman of the Rural Caucus Task Force on Jobs and Economic Development.
An Assistant Whip on Capitol Hill, Congressman McIntyre also serves on the Steering Committee of the Rural Health Care Coalition and as Co-Chairman of the Congressional Task Force on Responsible Fatherhood, and he was selected in his first year in office as a Congressional delegate to the President’s Summit for America’s Future. Congressman McIntyre received the Distinguished Service to Agriculture Award from the Robeson County Crop Promotion Association. In 2002, he was the only Member of the House to be chosen for a Legislative Award in recognition of his leadership and "ongoing commitment to policies improving health care" by the National Rural Health Association. A recipient of the Conservationist Award by the N.C. Coastal Land Trust, Congressman McIntyre has also been honored nationally by the American Coastal Coalition for his work in protecting and preserving our beaches.
The National Guard Association has presented the congressman the prestigious Charles Dick Medal of Merit for his outstanding work on behalf of the National Guard and our national defense. The Air Force Association and the Association of the U.S. Army have both recognized his efforts on their behalf, and Congressman McIntyre represents the House Armed Services Committee on the U.S. Naval Academy's advisory board. He is also Co-Chairman of the newly-organized Special Forces Caucus. Because of his steadfast commitment to all branches of our military, The Military Officers' Association of North Carolina has conferred upon Congressman McIntyre Honorary Life Membership.
His accomplishments have been recognized by numerous organizations, including the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Farmers Union, the American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the National Federation of Independent Business, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Congressman McIntyre, whose roots in North Carolina are well-established, was educated in the public schools of Lumberton and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Recently he was named to the prestigious United States Commission on Security and Cooperation with Europe. He is one of only nine members of the U.S. House of Representatives to be chosen for this commission which focuses on military security, as well as economic and environmental cooperation, and promotes democracy, religious freedom, and humanitarian concerns throughout the world.
A Morehead Scholar, he graduated Phi Beta Kappa as a political science major in 1978 and received his Juris Doctorate in 1981. His senior year of college the chancellor presented him the Sullivan Award, for best exemplifying in his class "unselfish interest in the welfare of his fellow man" during his collegiate career.
The University of North Carolina at Wilmington recently conferred an honorary Doctor of Laws degree upon Congressman McIntyre for his meritorious service and distinction in public service by improving the quality of life in southeastern North Carolina.
Active in community, church, civic, and professional activities, Mike McIntyre has served as a leader in the Lumberton Area Chamber of Commerce, coached three All-American Drug-Free Sports Teams and has been active in Rotary Club, Boy Scouts, and the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA). Additionally, Rep. McIntyre has been a lay leader in the First Presbyterian Church of Lumberton, including serving as an Elder, Deacon, and Sunday School teacher, and Chairman of the Weekday School and Day Care Committee.
In 1987, Representative McIntyre was chosen as one of the state’s Five Outstanding Young North Carolinians of the Year by the North Carolina Jaycees. As a strong advocate of issues that impact the family, he was a charter member of both the North Carolina Commission on Children & Youth and the North Carolina Commission on the Family. Representative McIntyre has worked tirelessly to improve education and has been a volunteer in the schools for over 22 years, continuing that commitment as he serves in Congress. In 1989 he earned the Governor’s Award for Outstanding Volunteer Service for his work with children and educators.
In addition to his Washington office, Rep. McIntyre maintains three district offices in Fayetteville, Lumberton, and Wilmington. Born on August 6, 1956, Mike lives in Lumberton with his wife, Dee Strickland McIntyre, and their two sons, Joshua and Stephen, both of whom have won scholarships to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where they are currently enrolled.
Joe R. Feagin
Joe R. Feagin (Ph.D., Harvard University) is the Ella C. McFadden Professor of Liberal Arts at Texas A & M University. His primary research interests concern the development and structure of racial/gender prejudice and discrimination and a range of other social justice issues. Among his 46 books are Social Problems: A Power-Conflict Perspective (Prentice-Hall, 1997); Racist America (Routledge 2000); The First R: How Children Learn Race and Racism, with D. Van Ausdale (Rowman & Littlefield 2001); Racial and Ethnic Relations, with C. Feagin (Seventh edition; Prentice-Hall 2003); White Racism: the Basics, with H. Vera and P. Batur (Second edition; Routledge 2001); The Many Costs of Racism, with K. McKinney (Rowman & Littlefield 2003); White Men on Race, with E. O'Brien (Beacon 2003); and Black in Blue: African-American Police Officers and Racism, with K. Bolton (Routledge 2004). He is currently working on the sixth edition of the Social Problems textbook and on another book dealing with how whites act in private in regard to racial issues. His books have won numerous national and professional association prizes; his book, Ghetto Revolts (Macmillan 1973), was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. He is also author of more than 170 articles on racial, gender, and other social-justice issues. He was the 1999-2000 president of the American Sociological Association.
Lukata Mjumbe
Lukata Mjumbe serves as the District Policy Director for Congressman Artur Davis of the Seventh Congressional District of Alabama. Mjumbe is the former Director of the Rural Training & Research Center of the Federation of Southern Cooperatives / Land Assistance Fund in Sumter County, Alabama. While there, he developed a regional cooperative economic development technical assistance program and rural demonstration models for limited resource communities in 12 southern states. He is a seasoned political advocate and community organizer with extensive professional experience in public policy development in the Black Belt south.
Additionally, Mjumbe has demonstrated community based and regional leadership in the areas of labor organizing, environmental justice, livable wage and welfare public policy as well as in campaigns related to human rights, children and youth. As the Policy Director for a member of Congress, he is responsible for the development of policy initiatives that can ultimately affect all of rural America. In 2003, Congressman Davis introduced the Southern Empowerment & Economic Development (SEED) Act. The bill in effect amends the legislation which created the Delta Regional Authority (DRA) and initiates the Delta Black Belt Regional Authority (DBBRA). The SEED Act expands the coverage area for the Authority and includes the development of a Constituency Representation Board (CRB) as well as a substantial increase in sustained funding for community-based development and regional strategic planning.
Mjumbe graduated summa cum laude as the top ranking political science student at Morehouse College. He has written and lectured extensively on strategies for comprehensive development in the rural south. He is pursuing his post-graduate work in Policy & Management Analysis at the University of Alabama and in seminary at the Birmingham Theological Seminary. He is a husband and proud father of five children.
Download these bios in .doc format for Mike McIntyre, Joe R. Feagin and Lukata Mjumbe
The conference is coordinated by Jobs for the Future Collaborative, a public-private partnership in Robeson County that was organized by The Center For Community Action in response to the massive loss of jobs in Robeson County, N.C. It includes leaders in both the public and private sector and is committed to a pro-active and successful approach to sustainable development in rural Robeson County and public policies that support rural America.
For more information, contact:
The Center For Community Action
P.O. Box 723, Lumberton, N.C. 28359
(910) 739-7851
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