Peter Bell Chair, Metropolitan Council

Peter Bell is the chair of the Metropolitan Council, a regional agency that runs the regional bus system, collects and treats wastewater, plans regional parks and administers funds that provide affordable housing opportunities.

In partnership with local governments in the seven-county area, the Council also conducts long-range planning to ensure that growth is orderly, environmentally sound and cost-effective to preserve and enhance the region's cherished quality of life and ability to complete. The Council is appointed by and serves at the pleasure of the governor.

“I’ve often said that 90 percent of the people of the Twin Cities metro area don’t know what the Council does, and the other 10 percent go to bed at night worrying about our every move,” said Bell. “So we have a dual challenge: to inform the first group about the value of regional solutions to regional problems, and to reassure the other group that the Council can be trusted to focus on our core mission, work collaboratively and be accountable.”

Bell was first appointed by Governor Tim Pawlenty in 2003 and reappointed in 2007.

From 2001 to 2002, Bell was executive vice president for publishing and educational services at Hazelden, in Center City, Minn. Hazelden is an internationally renowned nonprofit providing a wide range of alcohol and drug-abuse services including treatment, prevention, research and publishing. He was executive vice president for new ventures development at Hazelden from 1999 to 2001.

Bell served as executive vice president for corporate community relations for TCF Bank, Minneapolis, from 1994 to 1999. Under his leadership, the bank earned an "outstanding" rating for its community reinvestment activities by federal regulators.

From 1990 to 1994, Bell was a human services consultant in the field of alcohol/drug abuse. He was the keynote speaker at the White House Conference on a Drug-Free America in 1990. He was the co-founding and executive director of the Institute on Black Chemical Abuse from 1975 to 1990. In addition, he has written numerous books on chemical dependence.

Bell was a member of the University of Minnesota Board of Regents from 2002 to 2007 and has served on the board of directors for many local and national social and civic organizations, including the American Refugee Committee, Citizens League, the Center of the American Experiment, the Center for New Black Leadership, the Greater Minnesota Housing Fund and the Family Housing Fund. He also has served on the transition teams for Governors Jesse Ventura and Tim Pawlenty.

Bell has a bachelor’s degree in social service administration from Metropolitan State University. He lives in Minneapolis with his wife Sharon and has two children.

To contact Bell, you may call 651-602-1453, or e-mail: peter.bell@metc.state.mn.us