Bird joined the UWHC team in April of 2022. Arriving in Henderson County in 1990 to work for Flat Rock Playhouse he held a variety of roles at the theatre including production, marketing, development, and general manager. In 2013 Bird became the Coordinator of the Blue Ridge Music Trails of North Carolina working in partnership with the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area and the North Carolina Arts Council on the development and implementation of the 29-county project and accompanying website BlueRidgeMusicNC.com. Along with his auctioneer husband, Duke Domingue, they opened Duke Says Sold-Benefit Fundraising Auctiontainment in the fall of 2013 and continue to serve nonprofits through event-based fundraising. Bird has been a member of several community and nonprofit boards including ArtsNC, NC Arts Council Grant Panel and Summer Performing Arts Consortium, Henderson County Travel & Tourism, Blue Ridge Mountain Host, Village of Flat Rock Planning Board, and a project task force for the NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.