Executive Director at Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc.
Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina Area
- Current
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- Executive Director at Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc.
- Vice President at Merritt Wealth Strategies
- Past
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- State Auditor at State of North Carolina
- Partner/President at Privately Held Accounting Firms
- Member at Wake County Board of Commissioners
- Education
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- North Carolina State University
- North Carolina State University
- Recommended
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5 people have recommended Les - Connections
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271
connections
- Industry
- Non-Profit Organization Management
- Websites
Les Merritt’s Summary
Leslie W. (Les) Merritt, Jr. served as State Auditor of North Carolina from January 2005 until January 2009. He was the first Certified Public Accountant (CPA) to serve as North Carolina's State Auditor. Prior to being elected State Auditor, Merritt was an owner and partner in privately held accounting firms for over twenty years.
Les Merritt’s Specialties:
Auditing; Accounting.
Les Merritt’s Experience
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Executive Director
Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc.
(Government Relations industry)
May 2009 — Present (7 months)
The Foundation for Ethics in Public Service, Inc. seeks to bring a new level of transparency, accountability and integrity to all levels of American government. The Foundation will accomplish its mission by receiving and independently investigating allegations of corruption in government, providing reports of corruption to investigative journalists, and pro-actively educating government leaders and the general public on the true nature of ethics in government as well as the causes and remedies of public corruption.
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Vice President
Merritt Wealth Strategies
(Financial Services industry)
2009 — Present (less than a year)
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State Auditor
State of North Carolina
(Government Agency; Government Administration industry)
January 2005 — January 2009 (4 years 1 month)
The Office of the State Auditor (OSA) acts as the Taxpayers' Watchdog for North Carolina.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS/DUTIES AS STATE AUDITOR:
- First CPA to serve as State Auditor of North Carolina.
- Managed an agency with more than 200 employees.
- Member, North Carolina Council of State.
- Member, Local Government Commission.
- Worked to transform the Office of the State Auditor into a more pro-active agency.
- Increased the Office of the State Auditor’s emphasis on performance audits by 50%.
- Reduced a backlog of unfinished investigative audits, some more than three years old, by 76%.
- Launched a new Investigative Task Force to expose fraud, waste and abuse in state government.
- Created a new initiative that trained more than 12,000 personnel from state-funded non-profit and other grant recipients on compliance and reporting issues. -
Partner/President
Privately Held Accounting Firms
(Accounting industry)
1985 — January 2005 (20 years )
- Worked directly on hundreds of audits.
- Personal and business income tax preparation.
- Estate and financial planning advice and services. -
Member
Wake County Board of Commissioners
(Government Agency; Government Administration industry)
1994 — 1998 (4 years )
Les Merritt’s Education
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North Carolina State University
Bachelors , Accounting , 1979
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North Carolina State University
Bachelor's , Economics , 1974
Additional Information
Les Merritt’s Websites:
Les Merritt’s Interests:
Effective & efficient government; politics; sports.
Les Merritt’s Groups:
Former president, Zebulon Elementary School PTA; former president, Zebulon Rotary Club; former president, Zebulon Lions Club; former director, Zebulon Chamber of Commerce., Republican Party
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North Carolina Republican Party -
Wake County Taxpayers Association -
Cape Fear Business
Les Merritt’s Honors:
Elected State Auditor of North Carolina in 2004.
Les Merritt’s Contact Settings
Interested In:
- getting back in touch
