Stephen McDaniel St. Augustine

Stephen McDaniel runs two West Virginia businesses from St. Augustine, Florida, where he spends his winters. He is sole proprietor of Mozark Mountain Tree Farm in Tucker County, growing and selling Christmas trees both retail and wholesale, and co-owner of Readybox of WV, a portable storage container company serving most of North Central West Virginia.

His career began in his family's nursing home business, where he qualified as a National Board Certified Long Term Care Administrator. He left during his administrator in training year to start Ultra Care Inc with his father, Paul T. McDaniel, in 1987, a Part B medical supply company serving long term care facilities. The business moved into home care and then home infusion, and in 1994 they started Total Health Services of WV. He sold both companies in 2009 and left healthcare in 2012.

In February 2017, Governor Jim Justice appointed him Director of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. The agency went on to direct more than $151 million into state parks and forests, acquire 85,896 acres of public hunting land, bring 60 to 70 elk into the restoration herd, and rebuild its trout hatchery capacity. Statewide Sunday hunting passed into law. He left the post in January 2022 and advised the agency through the transition.