Bill grew up in Lake Charles, LA, and graduated from LaGrange High School in 1965. Returning to college on the GI Bill, Bill finished his course work with a B.S. degree in geology in 1974 and an M.S. degree in geology in 1975 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now ULL).

Bill started with Gulf Oil Corporation in New Orleans in 1975 performing regional exploration in the MAFLA (Mississippi Alabama Florida) Region, and eventually well-site work on COST (Continental Offshore Stratigraphic Test) wells in the Baltimore Canyon. Accepting a position with Forest Oil Corporation in Lafayette in 1979, Bill worked on development projects and large regional studies in south Louisiana both onshore and offshore. Becoming a free agent in 1990 (see “How I became an Independent” in the S.I.P.E.S. Quarterly), Bill began to seek his fortune as an independent, contracting his first consulting job with his previous employer, Forest Oil.

Bill joined the Society of Independent Professional Earth Scientists (S.I.P.E.S.) in 1990. As an independent, Bill has worked extensively with computer applications for geologic mapping and seismic interpretation with Forest Oil, ESRI in Columbia, SC, and with Dan Tearpock at Subsurface Consultants & Associates as the Vice President of Computer Applications.

Bill joined Rozel, LLC in 1996 as a partner generating prospects and selling deals. The partnership was successful, drilling an average of about 2 wells per year with a success rate of 82%. Bill left Rozel and opened an office in the Oil Center as Aquila, LLC in 2013.

A longtime member of AAPG, SEG, and S.I.P.E.S., Bill was the 2008-09 S.I.P.E.S. Vice President of National Energy, the S.I.P.E.S. National President for 2009-10, and represented the Lafayette Chapter on the S.I.P.E.S National Board through 2018. Bill was awarded S.I.P.E.S. Honorary Membership in 2020 after serving on the national board for 12 years.

Bill wrote the lead article in the March 2011 S.I.P.E.S. Quarterly, "Whose Fault Is It? A Geologic Empire in the Central Gulf Coast", and also contributed to the New Orleans Geological Society's "Oil and Gas Fields of South La., 2010." Bill also has articles in the 1990 and the 2014 GCAGS Transactions.

Bill was appointed to the Louisiana Board of Professional Geoscientists as a charter member in 2013, has been involved in writing the LBOPG Rules, and currently serving as treasurer after a fourth term as the LBOPG chairman. Bill was the technical program chairman for the 2014 GCAGS convention in Lafayette and currently serves as Society Liaison between the Lafayette Geological Society and the SouthWest Louisiana Geophysical Society.

Additionally, Bill has been an adjunct instructor at ULL since 2014, teaching Subsurface Mapping with Kingdom Applications to Geoscience Interpretation and Mapping Project classes.