Profile for Fern Shubert | Eastern North Carolina Now

About

Fern Shubert is a CPA, a writer, a former town manager, state Representative and state Senator, and was a candidate for Governor in 2004.

Fern was among the first to raise warnings about Jim Black and Mike Easley, and the record now proves that her warnings were valid. She raised warnings about the dangers of hedge funds long before Bernie Madoff proved how easily they could be used to defraud the public. She has a proven ability to spot problems and propose viable solutions.

And Fern is willing to state the facts, even when pressure is brought to bear. She was the only member of the 2001 House of Representatives who never voted for Jim Black for Speaker, and she stood by that position for several difficult years before the problems in the House became better known to the public.

Fern graduated from Duke University (Phi Beta Kappa, Magna cum Laude) and passed the CPA exam before even graduating.

In 1997 she won the Accountant Advocate of the Year Award from the US Small Business Administration at the State, Regional & National levels, recognizing her as the Accountant who did the most for small business in the whole country.

She has also won the Guardian of Small Business Award from the National Federation of Independent Businesses (The highest honor NFIB bestows on a state legislator . . .). She even won the 1996 NCEITA 21 Award for Government Service from the NC Electronics & Information Technology Association for coming up with a unique solution to an accounting problem that was facing the industry. 1996 was the first year this award was given and she is one of the very few Representatives ever to receive it.

Fern served three terms in the house (95-96, 97-98, 01-02) before being elected to the Senate. Her fellow Republican Senators elected her Senate Republican Whip as a freshman Senator in recognition of her many accomplishments in the House.