Mike Pruitt is a fair housing attorney with Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Virginia, which he joined in 2024 as a Powell Fellow. Mike previously served eight years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy, deploying twice to the Persian Gulf before working as an analyst and team lead at the Office of Naval Intelligence. After leaving the military, he worked at the Urban Institute on rural workforce development projects before attending law school. During law school, he worked as a legal intern at the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s Housing and Civil Enforcement Section and at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, in addition to a range of pro bono experience in LGBTQ+ issues, employment, housing, and more. He served as an editor on the Virginia Law Review and an Executive Editor on the Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law. Mike was elected to the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors in 2023. In this capacity he serves on various local boards, including the Central Virginia Regional Housing Partnership, the Thomas Jefferson Regional Planning District Commission, and the Charlottesville-Albemarle Transit Authority.
Mike holds a B.A. from Duke University, an M.P.A. from Georgetown University’s McCourt School of Public Policy, and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.