Democrat Offers North Carolina a Fresh Start Toward Economic Security —
and the Expertise to Get the Job Done

(CHAPEL HILL) — Democrat Jim Neal, a businessman and investment banker with global financial and economic experience, today announced that he has filed papers with the Federal Election Commission for a U.S. Senate bid against Elizabeth Dole. He expects to formally announce his candidacy in the weeks ahead.

“Seven generations after my family went to work to help shape the North Carolina of their day, I’m running to help shape the next generation,” Neal said. “We need a fresh start in Washington to end our involvement in Iraq’s civil war and redirect those resources to what matters most: economic security for our families here at home.”

“Senator Dole’s vote last Thursday against providing the best of public and private health coverage to 120,000 children from working families in North Carolina is the final straw,” Neal said. “It’s typical of her unwavering political support for the Bush-Cheney administration taking precedent over the best interests of the people who elected her. She’s out of touch with our state. We need a U.S. Senator who remembers who they work for—and will fight for their safety, their economic security and their kids’ health.”

The grandson of a carpenter, public school teacher and two mill workers, Neal was born in Greensboro in 1956, where he attended public school. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978. Following graduation he joined Goldman Sachs as a financial analyst. He returned to school at the University of Chicago, where he earned an MBA and worked a series of part-time jobs to pay his way through school.

As an investment banker at Salomon Brothers, Neal earned a reputation for leadership and innovative strategies while advising Fortune 500 companies on how to play successful roles in a changing global economy. He also worked as a senior investment banker with E.F Hutton and Bear Stearns, serving clients that ranged from Bank of America and American Express to Lincoln National Corporation and Transamerica.

For the past two decades, Neal has focused his career on information technology and healthcare companies, including serving as chief executive officer of RxMarketplace.com, a start-up firm that helped pharmacists offer patients prescription drugs at more affordable prices. Since 2000, Neal has led several private companies prior to founding The Agema Group, a financial advisory firm based in Chapel Hill.

Neal has continued his active involvement in nonprofit groups and political initiatives. A member of the Board of Governors of the New School from 2002 to 2006, he also served as a national finance committee member for Wes Clark for President and the Kerry-Edwards campaigns, as well as acting as a national fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate Erskine Bowles in 2004.

Neal has served his community as an overnight volunteer at a homeless shelter, a lay minister to mentally ill residents of an assisted-care facility, and a sponsor of a post-war Vietnamese refugee family in alliance with the International Rescue Committee.

Neal lives in Chapel Hill with the younger of his two sons, Winston. The oldest, James, is currently working in New York City.