Joal Hall Broun

         Joal Hall Broun has lived in Carrboro for twenty-three years.  During that time she has fought for our schools.  Her first advocacy for the schools came as a member of the Carrboro Board of Alderman from 1999 to 2011. On that Board, she approved the permit for both Morris Grove Elementary School and Carrboro High School.  During both those processes, she advocated for a smooth permitting process so that the schools were opened on time and no Town process delayed the construction or opening of the schools.  She supported the School District’s and the Town’s collaboration with the development of the Smith Middle School soccer fields.  Finally, she supported the Adequate Facilities Ordinance that directly ties residential development with student school seats.

          As the mother of two Chapel Hill High School students, Harrison Hall Broun and Rachel Callisha Broun, Joal has continued to be active in our schools.  She has been serving on the Chapel Hill High School Improvement team for the past two years and she is a member of the PTA.

         Joal has had a variety of experiences as a lawyer that gives her a special understanding of the workings of political, governmental, non-profit and private institutions.  Joal is currently the Lobbying Compliance Director for the Secretary of State, and has held that position since 2006. She was the agency’s general counsel for two years. Prior to coming to the Secretary of State’s Office, she was an assistant general counsel for Self Help Ventures Fund, a community development bank in Durham. Before working for Self-Help, she was an assistant public defender in Orange and Chatham Counties for seven years.  She has also worked as a lawyer in a large firm in Washington DC and as part of a two person practice in Salisbury, NC.  She started her legal career as a law clerk for the Honorable Richard Erwin, federal district court judge for the Middle District of North Carolina for two years.

         Joal was educated in the Greensboro City Schools (now Guilford County). She graduated from Ben. L. Smith High School in 1979. Joal received both her undergraduate and law school degrees from Wake Forest University.   She is a member of St. Paul AME Church and serves on the Trustee Board and is a member of the Missionary Society.

         Joal is married to Jonathan Broun, whose family has lived in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro community for almost fifty years.  Both Jonathan and his brother, Dan Broun, attended Ephesus Elementary School, Glenwood Elementary School, Culbreth Junior High School and graduated from Chapel Hill High School.