Janet Cowell is the 63rd mayor of Raleigh. She brings nearly two decades of executive leadership experience across the public, private and nonprofit sectors. Mayor Cowell comes from a tradition of public service—her father was a United Methodist minister and her mother a schoolteacher. She served in elected office from 2001 to 2016, including on the Raleigh City Council, in the North Carolina Senate and as state treasurer. Prior to her election as mayor in 2024, Cowell was president and CEO of the Dix Park Conservancy. She first began her career as a stock analyst in Asia. In recent years, she has served as a corporate director for two publicly traded companies. Cowell graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton School of Business.