photography by Mark Wagoner

Ask Mike Winstead Jr. about his logjam of a life, and you’ll get a simple answer: “I like to stay pretty

active,” he says.

Active, in this case, becomes such an understatement that even Winstead himself has to laugh. To see just how active this man is, you only need to examine his résumé.

He’s the co-owner of Mega Builders LLC, a company that has developed more than 4,000 multi-family units since its 1999 inception. He’s also the owner and operator of two Port City Java coffee houses, along with several Classic Car Wash businesses throughout the Triad.

And that’s just for starters.

On the political side, Winstead serves as a Guilford County Commissioner, a position he’s held the past four years. He also holds a spot on the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce, the Triad Real Estate and Building Coalition, the School Budget Committee, and the city’s Transportation Advisory Committee, just to name a few.

Aside from politics, Winstead is an active philanthropist. He champions local art organizations and also supports the Kid’s Path charity, a hospice-like program for children with cancer. Factor in that Winstead is a loving father, and the word active just doesn’t seem to do him justice.

Winstead realizes that taking on too much can have its consequences. That’s why, when pressed, he makes it clear which venture takes precedence. “The company comes first,” he says of Mega Builders. “It’s hard to do anything without good people, and that’s what we’ve got. First and foremost, I’m going to take care of the people here.”

Winstead started Mega Builders with co-owner Joe McKinney Jr. in 1999. From its outset, the company’s mission has been to make luxury living a possibility for everyone. “We’re at a good price point,” Winstead says. “I feel that our quality is probably the best around for the price we’re selling for.”

At the company’s core are multi-family housing projects. This includes conventional apartments, student housing, condos, and townhomes. You can find Mega Builder properties scattered throughout the state, from Wilmington to Cullowhee and everywhere in between. Despite the company’s expansion — which now includes several out-of-state projects — Mega Builders maintains a thriving headquarters in the Triad with more than a dozen projects in the area.

This, after all, is Winstead’s home turf. Raised in Winston-Salem, Winstead graduated from UNC Chapel Hill, where he studied political science. Initially, he planned to attend law school, but started to shift his focus after taking a job with renowned Chapel Hill builder J.P. Goforth. By his junior year, Winstead knew his calling wasn’t law — it was land development.

Now, with his company thriving, Winstead’s public presence has started to grow. In 2004, he was elected to the Board of Commissioners in Guilford County, a position he’s running for again this year, albeit unopposed.

When asked if his splash into politics has been a good or bad experience, Winstead pauses before confessing, “It’s really been an eye opener.”

He continues: “You think you can go in there and immediately make a lot of changes, but that’s not the case,” he says. “It’s just hard to do anything by yourself.”

Still, Winstead does have control over one aspect of government — himself. “What I try to do consistently is to make sure things are being done fairly,” he says. “There’s not much you can do, but you can kind of be a watchdog. I think when people elect you, they want you to make sure their money is being spent the best way it could be, so that’s my mission.”

Winstead’s boy-scout sincerity on civil matters reflects his stance on corporate policy. It’s his sincerity — and, more importantly, his company’s integrity — that has pushed Mega Builders to the foreground of the housing market.

It’s his sincerity, too, that has opened the door to a possible career in politics. Winstead won’t comment directly on any political aspirations, saying simply that a decision of that magnitude will require “a lot of thought.”

After all, when you look past all the business ventures and political pursuits, one central motif becomes clear for this go-getter: If Mike Winstead does something, he’s going to do it right.