David McGowan III is executive director of the North Carolina Petroleum Council. He is a native of Wilmington, N.C., a 1997 graduate of New Hanover High School, and a 2001 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

After graduating from UNC, McGowan worked as a development assistant with Swain & Associates Commercial Real Estate in Wilmington and as a legal assistant at the Law Firm of Ted Davis, Jr. In 2004, he moved to Greensboro and served as campaign coordinator for a U.S. Congressional campaign.

In January 2005, he was hired by the North Carolina Association of Realtors (NCAR) as a political specialist, coordinating NCAR’s member involvement and grassroots political activities. McGowan was promoted to director of regulatory affairs in December 2010. In that role, he served as a lobbyist and represented NCAR before the North Carolina Real Estate Commission, North Carolina Appraisal Board and the North Carolina Home Inspector Licensure Board.

In April 2013, David was named executive director of the North Carolina Petroleum Council, which is the state office of the American Petroleum Institute (API). In this role, he oversees legislative, regulatory and political activities on behalf of the oil and gas industry in North Carolina. This includes direct lobbying of the N.C. General Assembly on issues of importance to the industry, as well as representing API before state regulatory agencies that have oversight of the industry.

McGowan resides in Raleigh with his wife and two young children.