William V. Bell is an American politician and engineer who served as the mayor of Durham, North Carolina.

Formerly a senior engineer for IBM, Bell was first elected to the Durham County Board of Commissioners in 1972, where he served until 1994, and again from 1996 to 2000.

Bell is currently Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of UDI Community Development Corp., a non-profit organization.

The next day, Stith went after Bell, pointing out that Durham's murder rate was up nearly 50 percent over the previous year.

[7][8] It was later revealed that Bell endorsed and donated money to now-disgraced, former district attorney Mike Nifong during his reelection campaign surrounding the 2006 Duke University lacrosse case.