Beverly Perdue's campaign manager grew up in Wake County.

Zach Ambrose was raised in Garner and Raleigh and graduated from Enloe High School in 1986. He then went to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning degrees in electrical engineering and Russian.

After graduation, he spent five years in the U.S. Navy, serving most of that time on the USS Halyburton, a guided missile frigate.

Ambrose has previously served as director of the state Senate Caucus in the 2002 and 2004 elections. He worked as Perdue's chief of staff from 2005 to 2007. Last week, Perdue announced he would head up her campaign for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

His wife, Jill, is a pediatrician, and they have two young children, Catherine and John.