Elected Leadership
Dan serves as a City Council Member in Winston-Salem--our state’s fourth-largest city with a population of more than 225,000. He was first elected in 2001 for a four-year term, and re-elected overwhelmingly in 2005. In addition to his direct work for citizens, he represents Winston-Salem in key regional leadership roles:
- Piedmont Triad Partnership (Board of Directors, 2005—present). (Triad’s leading & regional economic development organization.)
- Piedmont Triad Early Action Compact (Chair, Stakeholders Committee, 2003—present). (Planning and oversight group for regional clean air plan.)
- Winston-Salem Urban Area Transportation Advisory Committee (2002—present)
- (Regional planning entity for transportation systems and funding.)
Extensive Statewide Public Service
Dan has provided more than 20 years of service at the state level in helping to shape North Carolina’s efforts to protect public health and the environment, and to wisely manage our natural resources. His service includes the following:
- N.C. Climate Action Plan Advisory Group (2006—present)
- N.C. Environmental Management Commission (1993—2005)
- N.C. Sedimentation Control Commission (1994—2002)
- N.C. Coastal Resources Commission (1985—1993; Chair, 1985—1990)
- N.C. Emergency Response Commission (1987—1992)
Professional Career
Dan has focused his professional career as an attorney on public service: Aiding the disadvantaged, promoting public health and good health care, and conserving our land, water, and air. His experience includes a decade of work providing legal service for poor families in eastern North Carolina, and nearly two decades of work with leading state environmental conservation groups.
Dan has worked as a teacher: Dan has taught environmental law and policy, as well as general political science, as an adjunct or visiting faculty member at N.C. State University, Guilford College, Duke University, Winston-Salem State University, and Forsyth Technical Community College.
Lifelong Commitment to North Carolina
Dan was born and grew up in Hickory, graduating from Hickory High in 1973. He received his undergraduate (1977) and law (1980) degrees from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also met and married Kay House, a native of Marion in the foothills. After a stay in Greensboro, Dan and Kay spent a decade working in eastern North Carolina, in New Bern and Lumberton. In 1993, they returned west to Winston-Salem, where they have since made their home.
Contact: Dan Besse 2008, P.O. Box 15346, Winston-Salem NC 27113 danbesse@danbesse.org