Bill has been with the Orton Family Foundation since 1998. After graduating from Williams College in 1977, Bill traveled around the world for two years, eventually settling in Vermont and graduating from Vermont Law School in 1983. For the next 14 years, he practiced law in a private firm in Middlebury, Vermont and became a prominent land use attorney focusing on creative and thoughtful local community planning, as well as on sound economic and environmental development in the private market.
In 1997-1998, Bill lived with his wife and two daughters on the west coast of Ireland where he spearheaded changes to Ireland's land use practices and regulations, helped form Ireland's first land trust and worked on several local projects. During his ten years with the Foundation, Bill served as the Foundation's Director of Programs until becoming the President and CEO in 2006.
He has written articles for the Boston College Environmental Affairs Law Review and the Vermont Law Review and has authored a chapter on the Foundation's groundbreaking planning software for the edited volume, Conservation in the Internet Age (Island Press, 2002). Bill lives with his family in Weybridge, Vermont and serves on the Weybridge Planning Commission and the boards of Smart Growth Vermont and Middlebury’s Town Hall Theater.
