Bill Patrie, a retired economic development leader and cooperative development specialist, has announced his candidacy for the North Dakota Senate representing District 47 as part of the Democratic-NPL Party’s Region 6 slate.
Patrie, born in Carrington, has lived in the Bismarck area since 1985 and was motivated to join the 14 other Dem-NPL candidates running in Region 6 after observing what he described as a troubling direction in state and national leadership.
“I’m confident I can bring a common purpose to the state legislature to work with the executive branch and transform North Dakota into an example for other states and the nation,” Patrie said. “I want to create a state where people feel welcomed and wanted, where people see that ethnic and cultural diversity is exciting and rewarding.”
Patrie said his priorities include thriving rural communities, affordable health care for all North Dakotans, support for small businesses, and environmental protection. He also cited the vision he helped craft as a facilitator for the North Dakota Commission on the Future of Agriculture, where North Dakota became “the trusted provider of the highest quality food in the world, with thriving rural communities, prosperous family farms, and world-class stewardship of our natural resources.”
Patrie brings a four-decade career in public service and cooperative development to his campaign. After earning a bachelor’s degree in political science from Anderson University in Anderson, Ind., and a master’s degree in public administration from Ball State University in Muncie, Ind., he began his career as a disability claims adjudicator for the Social Security Administration in Indianapolis, where he was promoted to unit supervisor.
He spent a decade with the North Central Planning Council in Devils Lake, during which he provided technical assistance that led to the creation of Noodles by Leonardo, the first integrated durum mill and pasta plant in the United States, located in Cando.
In 1985, then-Gov. George Sinner appointed Patrie director of the North Dakota Economic Development Commission. Patrie said the state was losing 100 jobs per week when he accepted that role but, during his tenure, he helped assemble a crisis intervention team that worked with the Bank of North Dakota and the attorney general’s office to find new owners for troubled businesses, including Basin Electric’s purchase of the coal gasification plant in Beulah, Tenneco’s acquisition of Steiger Tractor in Fargo, and ADM’s purchase of a sunflower crushing plant in Velva. He also led the replacement of 400 jobs lost when the San Haven facility north of Dunseith was closed.
In 1990, Patrie joined the North Dakota Association of Rural Electric Cooperatives as its first rural development director. His work promoting value-added agriculture cooperatives became one of The Associated Press’s top stories of 1995, a period dubbed “co-op fever.” That effort helped launch the Dakota Growers Pasta plant in Carrington, the North American Bison Cooperative in New Rockford, a potato processing plant near Jamestown, and the ProGold corn processing plant in Wahpeton.
After leaving the association in 2006, Patrie worked for NorthCountry Cooperative Development Fund based in Minneapolis with an office in Mandan. Following the 2008 financial crisis, he served as interim CEO and helped recruit new leadership and restructure the organization. In 2009, he and two colleagues founded Common Enterprise Development Corporation, providing technical assistance on cooperative formation, community development, and health care and anti-poverty programs for Native Nations and counties. He retired from Common Enterprise in 2016.
Patrie has served as president of the Devils Lake School Board, chairman of the Lake Region Junior College board of trustees, founding chairman of the Rural Development Finance Corporation, and a board member of Capital Electric Cooperative and Burleigh County Water Users Cooperative. He currently serves on the board of Communities Acting Together for Change and Hope, a nonprofit that helps rural communities recruit and welcome immigrant families.
Patrie and his wife Marcia, married 52 years, have sponsored three Ukrainian families seeking refuge in North Dakota, with one family in Dickinson and two in Bismarck. They have three adult children — all educators — and three grandchildren. Marcia Patrie, a retired Bismarck school teacher with a master’s degree in education, has also supervised student teachers for Dickinson State University.