Bill Bates is Executive Vice President of the Council on Competitiveness and was the founding Executive Director of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils. Recently, he led multi-year initiatives to explore the economic opportunity for advanced manufacturing in the United States and the development of a national cyber security agenda. Bill is the chief architect of the Council's National Competitiveness Forum (NCF), the annual C-suite conversation that sets a pro-growth agenda for the U.S. policymakers. He is a frequent speaker both nationally and internationally on a range of competitiveness and innovation topics from education to technology policy to advanced manufacturing.

Beginning in 2019, Bill will be spearheading a new Council initiative, the University Leadership Forum, to draw greater attention to higher education's role in U.S. competitiveness from leadership in game changing technologies to the development of the next generation of entrepreneurs.

As the first Executive Director of the Global Federation of Competitiveness Councils (GFCC), Bill helped establish and build a network of more than 30 competitiveness councils from around the world. He managed the Council's role as secretariat to the GFCC, oversaw membership engagement and outreach and directed the development of annual policy reports, including Best Practices in Competitiveness Policy.

He previously served as Director of Government Relations for the United States Telecom Association. Prior to that, he was Chief of Staff and Legislative Director to House Commerce Committee member, U. S. Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) where he advised the Congresswoman on a wide range of technology issues including telecommunications, biotechnology and intellectual property. Before joining Ms. Eshoo, he was an Associate with the Washington, DC-based public affairs company, Cassidy & Associates.

He holds a master's degree in government from Johns Hopkins University and a bachelor's degree in government and History from Cornell University. In his spare time, he runs ultramarathons and is a member of the Marine Corps Marathon Runners Club, having completed the race seven times.