RALEIGH – A Rocky Mount insurance agent and hospital board member has joined the N.C. Board of Transportation as a new member.
Melvin M. Mitchell, who was sworn in on Wednesday, joined the board’s virtual meeting Thursday. He represents Division 4, which comprises Edgecombe, Halifax, Johnston, Nash, Wayne and Wilson counties. He succeeds Rocky Mount resident Gus Tulloss, who recently decided not to return to the Board of Transportation after serving on it for the past 12 years.
Mitchell is the president of Melvin M. Mitchell Agency Inc., which is affiliated with Allstate Insurance Co. He also serves on the Board of Commissioners for Nash UNC Health Care in Rocky Mount. He has a business education degree from Fayetteville State University and has lived in Rocky Mount since 1974.
“It’s an honor and privilege to be able to serve the citizens of the North Carolina and my region of the state by being appointed to this important board,” Mitchell said. “The North Carolina Department of Transportation has a vital mission and a professional work force that I look forward to working with.”
He serves with 19 other individuals from across the state who represent each of the NCDOT’s 14 geographical highway divisions and six areas of statewide interest. The governor appoints members representing the 14 highway divisions, while the speaker of the N.C. House and the N.C. Senate President Pro-Tempore each appoint three at-large members.
Mitchell has served as a board member of the Rocky Mount Boys Club, Triangle Bank and Greater Rocky Mount Family Practice. His insurance agency has won several accolades. He serves on the board of directors for Providence Bank in Rocky Mount, and he is a past member of the board of directors for First Carolina State Bank. Mitchell also is active with North End Missionary Baptist Church. He also is a member of Alpha Omicron Chapter of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, and he is the fraternity’s 41st Sixth District representative. He is a member of the N.C. Agriculture and Forestry Awareness Study Commission.
He and his wife, Laura, have two daughters and three grandchildren.