Bill has worked to preserve and protect the environment through his involvement with the Orange-Chatham Sierra Club since 1989. He received an Outstanding Achievement Award from that organization in 2005, in appreciation of his long record of advocacy for environmental causes.

Currently Bill represents Chapel Hill on the Triangle Transit Authority Board of Directors, for which he serves as Treasurer. Bill chairs the council’s Downtown Economic Development Initiative, and the Chapel Hill Library expansion project. He serves on the Sustainability, Energy and Environment (SEE) Committee, which has created an energy bank, enacted a green fleets policy and set green building standards for the town.

Since joining the council in 1999, Bill has been a key liaison between Chapel Hill and The University of North Carolina. He currently serves as the lead delegate to UNC’s Horace Williams Leadership Advisory Council, which is setting principles for development of the future Carolina North Campus. He has served the town as an appointed negotiator under former Mayor Rosemary Waldorf and current Mayor Kevin Foy for zoning issues associated with the main campus.

Bill has led council efforts at improving public transit, including championing fare-free buses and creating express routes between Chapel Hill and Raleigh and Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. He has advocated for expanded police and fire protection, better capital investment planning, innovative budgeting approaches, parks, greenways and open space expansion and rural buffer protection.

In addition to his council service, Bill has served on the boards of the local water and sewer authority, the Orange County Economic Development Commission and the Triangle J Council of Governments. He also was a board member of Volunteers for Youth, a non-profit mentoring program, from 1988 to 1994, and chaired the 1997 Orange County Bond Campaign for Public School Finance and the 2001 Orange County Parks and Recreation Open Space Bond Campaign.

Bill has overseen affordable housing projects in partnership with local non-profit groups EmPOWERment Inc. and Affordable Rentals Inc. In 2003, Orange County Friends of Affordable housing endorsed Bill, calling him “one of the leading voices in the state” for affordable housing efforts.

Bill holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ithaca College in New York, and a master's degree in liberal studies from Duke University. He has lived in Orange County since 1985 and resides in the Greenwood neighborhood with his wife, Jennifer, a journalist, and their son, Aaron, who attends East Chapel Hill High School.