Leslie Winner

Who is Leslie Winner?

Leslie J. Winner is a North Carolina attorney and the executive director of the Winston-Salem-based Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. At the time of her selection to succeed Thomas W. Ross at the foundation, Winner was general counsel and vice president for the University of North Carolina system. The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation website says that Winner “spearheads the Foundation’s grantmaking efforts.”

A native of Asheville, Winner received the A.B. degree from Brown University and the J.D. degree from Northeastern University School of Law. She served six years in the North Carolina Senate, representing part of Mecklenburg County as a Democrat. From 1998 to 2000, Winner was general counsel for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools system.

In February 2013, Winner said that she was “surprised and disappointed” by a politically charged memo distributed by Blueprint North Carolina, a Reynolds Foundation grantee and 501 tax-exempt organization.“ believes in robust debate on issues of public importance, does not support attacking people,” Winner said. “We were disappointed to learn that Blueprint is advocating this strategy…We are taking this seriously.