An accomplished strategist and leader, William is a Lieutenant Colonel with nearly 18 years in the United States Air Force. In addition to his day-to-day duties leading one of the nation’s premiere Electronic Warfare units, he is working to improve military methods for strategy development in the Information Age by leveraging systems thinking and sustainable design approaches. Outside of his military duties, William assists several non-profit and charitable organizations in developing actionable strategies to address challenging problems through improved problem structuring. William’s work has garnered national recognition, and both Ebony and Black Enterprise Magazine have profiled him in leadership articles. In 2008, the United States Junior Chamber recognized William as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans for his sustained outstanding leadership and accomplishments.
Application to Work:
William’s time as a Fellow has initiated a rich and growing conversation within a number of circles on the importance of security as a prerequisite for a sustainable future. As the defense community begins to tackle the sustainability challenge in earnest, William has positioned himself to bridge the gap between the sustainability community and the security community. As a result of his experiences and learnings as a Fellow, William is now studying potential futures of how climate negotiations and agreements may impact national and global security. He is also beginning to introduce time-tested and proven military campaign design methodologies into the sustainability community. These techniques hold the promise of helping organizations improve their effectiveness in promoting their sustainability objectives. Perhaps most importantly, William has aggressively applied the advanced coaching skills developed during the Fellowship to improve his effectiveness as a commander, mentor and leader in and out of uniform.
