SSI’s Experienced International Team 

Bill retired after 31 years of foreign service with the Department of State with the rank of Minister-Counselor, which is the diplomatic equivalent of Major General. He helped shape a diverse set of U.S. national security policies, both in gaining domestic support and implementing them globally on-the-ground. Bill has a unique acumen to engage foreign cultures and rapidly interpret their conceptual underpinnings and consequential effects upon critical global security issues. His subsequent focus has been dedicated in bringing U.S. space policy into the 21st century by leveraging commercial and international military alliances for improved space situational awareness (SSA). Bill has accumulated a vast array of contacts critical to national security interests at the highest levels of the Department of State, United States Strategic Command (USTRATCOM) and NATO. Past foreign service and other postings include New Delhi, India; the U.S. Mission to NATO, Brussels, Belgium; Davao, Philippines; Paramaribo, Suriname; Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; and numerous Temporary Duty Assignments (TDY) in Qatar; West Africa and numerous others. Bill served as Minister-Counselor for Cultural/Public Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi, India. During his four-year tour he was responsible for overseeing Indo-United States Exchange Programs and interacted with American Cultural Centers and senior Indian officials at the ministerial level in New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai. He had the honor of administering the United States Fulbright Program as the Director of the U.S. Educational Foundation in India during a very challenging time for bilateral Indo-U.S. relations. He still managed to nearly double the Fulbright budget to $15 million and greatly increased the number of higher education exchanges between Indian and American students. For over 20 years Bill has been viewed as a respected and knowledgeable student of past and present Indo-U.S. relations.  He is extremely proud of having facilitated the first-ever United States Presidential speech before the Indian Parliament by former President William Clinton. In the late eighties Bill served as the Desk Officer for Southeast Asian Affairs in the Office of East Asian and Pacific Affairs of the former United States Information Agency. Over a two-year period, he was the primary liaison between Washington and U.S. Information Service Posts in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Thailand and Burma. He has maintained his high-level contacts in these nations, He serves as an International Adviser to the Space Foundation and a Special Adviser to Virginia Tech’s Applied Research Corporation (VT-ARC). He previously supported John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab as an Adjunct Fellow. Has also serves on the Advisory Board of the Secure World Foundation, an NGO working in the field of space policy and security. In 2008 Bill assisted in the coordination and facilitation of the Space Foundation’s historic visit to the Chinese astronaut training center and the Jiuquan launch facilities at the southern edge of the Gobi dessert. This initial engagement has resulted in numerous unofficial/informal interactions between the Space Foundation and leading China space institutions. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and International Affairs from Thiel College. Bill is one of the few foreign service officers to have trained at the National Security Space Institute (NSSI). He has taken numerous senior level courses over the years at the U.S. Department of State’s National Foreign Affairs Training Center. He speaks French, survivor Spanish and Dutch as well as a few unique dialects learned while in various countries .