William H. Payne II '01
Mr. Payne graduated from William & Mary in 2001 with a B.A. in Public Policy and in 2005 was named a Fellow of the Sorensen Institute for Political Leadership at the University of Virginia. He is Managing Partner of Coalfield Strategies, LLC, an economic development consulting firm marketing business investment opportunities in Southwest Virginia communities. He previously served in the Northam Administration, focusing on the developing U.S. East Coast offshore wind industry supply chain and economic sustainability strategies in Virginia’s coalfields. For over a decade prior, he was Principal of Bull Moose Strategies, LLC, a political consulting firm specializing in strategic communications and building bipartisan coalitions. Mr. Payne is a co-founder of the Virginia Sportsmen’s Foundation, a nonprofit that provides outdoor education to first-time hunters, hosts an annual wild game chili cook-off during the General Assembly session and holds hunting and fishing outings with military veterans and law enforcement officers. Mr. Payne was awarded the W&M Annual Giving Board of Directors Cup in 2011 and completed a term on that Board in 2014. Since 1997 he has been involved with the William & Mary ice hockey team as a player, assistant coach and chairman of its booster club. In 2015, Mr. Payne published his first book, Mark Warner the Dealmaker: From Business Success to the Business of Governing, a biography of former Virginia Governor and current U.S. Senator Mark Warner, detailing lessons in leadership at the intersection of business and politics. He was a member of the Presidential Search Committee for the 28th President of William & Mary (2017-2018). Currently he serves as Vice Rector of the university and Chair of the Design Review Board.
2021-2022 Committee Assignments
Executive Committee, Vice Chair
Committee on Administration, Buildings and Grounds, Chair
Committee on Audit, Risk and Compliance
Appointed
July 1, 2014 by Governor Terry McAuliffe
July 1, 2018 by Governor Ralph Northam
