Meet Bryan O’Neill
Candidate for Transylvania County Commissioner
Transylvania County is our home. My wife of 50 years, Rachel, and I have built our life here. She spent 36 years as a special education teacher and still tutors reading at Brevard Elementary. Our son, Dylan, is a mechanical engineer. Like so many families here, we care deeply about the future of this community.
I’ve spent my career solving problems and delivering results. I hold an MBA and have served as a President and CEO, leading organizations with up to $110 million in revenue. I know how to manage budgets, lead teams, turn around troubled organizations and follow through.
My service started locally in Connestee Falls—first as Chair of the Student Scholarship Program, then on the Strategic Planning Committee, and later on the Board of Directors. I’ve also worked directly with small businesses and nonprofits as a SCORE mentor, and I serve with Pisgah Forest Rotary and on the boards of FWRD Transylvania, Transylvania Partners for Democracy and the local chapter of SCORE.
In 2022, I stepped into county politics at the precinct level—first as Vice Chair, then Chair—because I saw problems that weren’t getting fixed. The biggest one: our schools.
In 2023, I was appointed to the Board of Education to help move the school bond forward. What became clear was straightforward—the school system was ready, but progress was being held up at the county level.
Even though there was a $68 million bond referendum passed by the voters the bonds were not issued until the 2024 campaign. We focused on the bonds as one of the main points of the campaign which produced real results: school bonds were issued, and a binding agreement between the Commission and the School Board was put in place to ensure accountability, cooperation and transparency.
That experience made one thing clear: too often, politics gets in the way of progress.
That’s why I’m running for County Commissioner—to put People – Not Politics first.
Because this should be about families, not agendas. Results, not rhetoric. And a local government that works for the people it serves.
