About Bill
Conservative Businessman.
Hard work and conservative, ethical decision-making have defined the business career of Bill Daughtridge. He is the President of Daughtridge Gas & Oil Company of Rocky Mount and Daughtridge Gas Company in Greenville and Roanoke Rapids providing over 150 jobs in Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Pitt, and Wilson counties.
Bill’s business success is grounded in the values he learned as an Eagle Scout and the education he received at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar. After Bill earned an MBA from UNC, he worked as a financial analyst at Continental Oil Company in Houston, Texas. There, Bill began his career – learning how to manage million dollar budgets and lead teams that faced complex, large-scale financial decisions. He also managed the recruitment and training of an incoming MBA class. In 1979, Bill returned to North Carolina and joined the family-operated business his grandfather had founded in 1929.
Back in Rocky Mount, Daughtridge significantly expanded the family business, launching the convenience store concern. Emphasizing customer service and innovation, Bill has grown the convenience store businesses over the past two and a half decades. A consummate entrepreneur, Bill’s greatest passion is creating new ventures that meet customer needs. He relished his role in developing an innovative Auto Care Express Mall, which provides exceptional customer service in a family friendly setting. The venture is one of the first car care malls in North Carolina. It encompasses a transmission shop, car rental center, car wash, quick lube, windshield repair, and convenience store.
Anticipating and meeting the changing needs of customers is Bill’s passion. He understands proper due diligence on a project and creative marketing a venture are important, the entrepreneurial business leader’s most critical quality is perseverance. Successful business leaders commit to making things happen, no matter what it takes. Bill loves that part of the challenge of small business. He’s a CEO who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty.
Dedicated Family Man and Community Leader.
Growing up in Rocky Mount, Bill learned respect for others and a strong work ethic from his parents, Bill and Carol. During his childhood, he earned spare money driving mules and handling tobacco on his grandmother’s farm. During summers he worked for his father digging trenches and laying pipe for gasoline installations. Like many North Carolinians, he developed a strong sense of faith and family values. In 1980, Bill married Partha Council. The couple has dedicated their lives to nurturing these same values in their children, Gray and Meredith.
Bill’s parents and teachers instilled in him a commitment to carrying his values into public life. His commitment to public service evolved long before his political service. His belief that private citizens have an obligation to play an active role in enhancing the community and state has led him to serve as the President of the North Carolina and Virginia region of the Boy Scouts of America. Bill has also taught merit badges to young Scouts and participated in camping trips with Troop 40 where his son Gray earned the rank of Eagle Scout. During one such camping trip, Gray and Bill completed a rigorous 80-mile backpacking trip at the Philmont Scout Ranch. Bill has also served as an assistant Scoutmaster for a National Scouting Jamboree.
Bill is a member of the Carolinas Gateway Partnership, an economic development association, and the Rocky Mount Community Foundation, a non-profit dedicated to establishing philanthropic giving in Nash County. He is the past president of the Rocky Mount Area United Way. Bill and Partha both are active in Rocky Mount’s First Presbyterian Church, where Bill is a deacon. He has chaired several church committees and helped found a Venturing Crew based in the church. After completing his formal education, Bill served in the North Carolina National Guard for six years.
Committed Public Servant.
“Initially, I was reluctant to run for public office because, frankly, I didn’t want to take time away 
from my young children,” Bill says. “As Gray and Meredith moved toward graduation and I became increasingly distressed by the fiscal mismanagement in Raleigh, I decided to get off the sidelines.” In 2002, Bill declared his candidacy for the North Carolina House. He started the campaign by assembling a dozen civic, business, and community leaders into an informal campaign committee that met weekly. While almost nobody on the committee had any previous political experience, all were concerned about the importance of improving the North Carolina economy and education system.
In office, Representative Daughtridge has focused his efforts on fostering economic growth and development. He co-chaired the General Assembly’s Joint Select Committee on Economic Growth and Development and also served on the Joint Select Committee on Small Business Economic Development. Currently, Representative Daughtridge serves as Vice Chairman of the Southern Legislative Conference’s Economic Development, Transportation, and Cultural Affairs Committee. In the 2005-2006 Session, Bill served as Chair of the House Commerce Committee and Vice Chair of the House Finance Committee. In the 2007-2008 Session, he is the Vice Chairman of the Commerce, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee. He also sits on the Education, Finance, Financial Institutions and Transportation Committees.
Relying on his business experience, Bill was a principal sponsor of two major economic development bills that have created over 33,000 new jobs across the state. Bill’s legislation modernizes state government and enhances North Carolina’s economic competitiveness in the transitioning economy. Together, these bills provided over $20 million for the One North Carolina Fund and the One North Carolina Small Business Fund.
