Charlotte, NC

Jennifer Watson Roberts is currently Chair of the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners, and was just re-elected for her third term in office. She is a native of Charlotte and a graduate of East Mecklenburg High School. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill on a Morehead Scholarship, and also holds two Masters Degrees in international affairs, from the Johns Hopkins University and from the University of Toronto. She worked as a diplomat for three and a half years with the US Department of State, serving in the Dominican Republic as a consular officer and then as a political officer on the Mexico Desk in Washington before returning to Charlotte in 1993 with her husband.

During her years in Charlotte, Roberts has been Director of the Mayor’s International Cabinet, a lending officer in International Corporate Banking at First Union, and executive director of the Charlotte World Affairs Council. She is currently an adjunct professor in the International Studies Department at UNC-Charlotte. She speaks Spanish, French, and some Italian, and has lived in Canada, Italy, and the Dominican Republic.

Roberts has won many community awards and serves on numerous boards and advisory groups in the region, including the Centralina Council of Governments, the Charlotte Chamber, the Charlotte Regional Partnership, the Girls Scouts Hornets Nest Council, Keep Mecklenburg Beautiful, and the Womens Commission. Her main interests center around education, childrens’ issues in general, alleviating poverty and homelessness, and environmental protection.

She is married to Manley Roberts and has two children who attend CMS (fourth grade and seventh grade).

Something you may not know about Jennifer: She played four years of varsity volleyball at UNC Chapel Hill, serving as captain her senior year and winning the prestigious Jim Tatum Award as an outstanding scholar/athlete. She also coached volleyball when she was teaching high school between her undergraduate and graduate studies.