County Commissioners

Vilma D. Leake is currently a Democrat elected to the Mecklenburg Board of County Commissioners, representing the citizens of District 2, which is located in southwestern Mecklenburg County. She was first elected as commissioner in 2008. Commissioner Leake’s 2024 election comprised 74% of the vote, winning her current term. A motivational speaker, Leake began her career in public service when she was elected to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education in 1997, where she served for 11 years, including as vice chair of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) Policy Committee. 

She currently serves on the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners Public Education Steering Committee and the National Association of Counties (NACo) National Board of Large Urban Counties Caucus Steering Committee. Commissioner Leake felt there was a need to create a platform for small business owners to meet, collaborate and network bi-monthly. From this vision came the Small Business Consortium Group, founded by Commissioner Leake in 2011. This group started with five attendees and has grown to 100. In 2022, Commissioner Leake established the African American Faith Alliance Group.

Commissioner Leake is an active member and leader in numerous local, state and national organizations. She has been active with Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Order of the Eastern Star, Black Political Caucus of Phi Lambda Theta, North Carolina Association of Educators, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Association of Educators, Business and Professional Women, Charlotte Juvenile Services Board, Southern Christian Leadership Conference, Charlotte Mecklenburg Executive Human Relations Board, Board of Directors of the National Council of Negro Women, and Jack and Jill of America, Inc. 

For her service, Commissioner Leake has received numerous community service awards and recognitions. In 2024, she received the Frederick Douglas Award from the North Carolina Association of Black County Officials (NCABCO), the highest award bestowed by the association. She also received the 2013 Legends Award in recognition of “Valuable Contributions” made to the Charlotte Community; Charlotte-Mecklenburg Education Association- “The Maya Angelou/Elizabeth Ross Dargan Lifetime Achievement Award;” the Broad Institute “Broad Fellows” Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Award; and a lifetime member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). During her tenure teaching at Independence High School, she founded Project Motivation Inspiration, a successful initiative encouraging males and females to stay in school. In 1989, Commissioner Leake became known for rallying more than 20,000 North Carolina teachers in a caravan of 46 buses to Raleigh to lobby lawmakers for higher teacher pay and received the highest increase.

Commissioner Leake’s humanitarian service and church involvement includes being an active dedicated member of the historic Little Rock A.M.E. Zion Church, she formerly gave her time to the young people as a Sunday School teacher, and a former choir member, singing the praises of God. 

Among several awards, Commissioner Leake has received the Paul Leroy Robeson Award from the A.M.E. Zion National Church and the Outstanding Leadership Award from the A.M.E. Zion Local Church. She actively participated on the Women’s Home and Overseas Missionary Society of the A.M.E. Zion Church; and was the founder of the Vilma D. Leake “Walk-a-Mile for Second Mile”, an outreach program that promoted good health and provided monetary funding for overseas and home missions. 
She has traveled overseas to Kenya, South Africa, Nigeria, Stockholm, Sweden and Singapore. A library in Nigeria is named in her honor. For seven consecutive years, she traveled to South Africa donating books, clothes and computers to build a church under the leadership of the late Bishop Rochester in Petersburg, South Africa.