Growing Up
Bill’s dad was in the Army, and he was born on a military base in Korea. After moving to Northern Virginia for work, his parents retired in Las Cruces when Bill was 14. He graduated from Mayfield, and in high school played drums for the marching band, was captain of the academic decathalon team, wrote occasional movie reviews for the Las Cruces Bulletin, and during the summer helped run programs at the Las Cruces Museum of Natural History.
His parents still live in Las Cruces, and his sister Maureen is a medical student at Emory University in Atlanta.
Education
Bill graduated from Mayfield High School in 1996. He went on to NMSU and graduated with honors in 2001 with a BA in Government and Minors in History and Biology. During his time at NMSU, he played in the Pride of NM marching band, worked in the NMSU computer labs, was a backup goalkeeper for the NMSU Men’s Soccer Team, and served as the President of the Student Government.
During his senior year, Bill was accepted in to the Public Policy program at Harvard’s John F Kenedy School of Government. He graduated from Harvard in 2003, and his thesis about water desalination in New Mexico was nominated for Most Outstanding award that year.
Employment
Bill has had numerous jobs in the Las Cruces area which include:
- Commercial Realtor, Grubb and Ellis NM.
- Government Instructor, Doña Ana Community College and NMSU.
- Executive Director, New Mexico Rural Development Response Council.
- Farm Worker, Sierra Vista Growers and Marathon Agriculture.
- Development Director, Arts and Sciences College at NMSU.
He has spent the last two years helping to build a small business, ROJO Ink. ROJO is a private-sector company based on social responsibility. Through the sale of custom apparel to college organizations, churches mission, summer camps, and businesses ROJO has fed over 250,000 starving children at orphanages, churches, and schools in Haiti, Zimbabwe, and the Horn of Africa.
Community Involvement
In his four years as a Doña Ana County Commissioner, Bill was able to accomplish numerous goals, including leading the local charge to build the Spaceport, reform local health care funding, re-write the County’s Ethics ordinance, and establish the Camino Real Utility authority allowing for smart development of the Santa Teresa area.
In addition to political service, Bill contributed to his community in many other way. Activities have included such diverse roles as serving as a Southern representative on the Board of New Mexico Common Cause, coaching local middle and high-school hockey teams, running canned food drives for Organizing for America, and making pancakes for many school fundraisers through his involvement in Kiwanis.
In 2011, as part of his role in Common Cause, Bill led the effort to get Las Cruces and Doña Ana County to make Citizen Committes to give input on how districts should be redrawn for their respective bodies. He served as the Chair of the Las Cruces Committee.