Bio: William G. Marshall
Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Will spent weekends and summers working on his grandfather’s tree farm in the Laurel Mountains of Western Pennsylvania. He spent many days in the woods hiking Forbes Trail where he reflected on what it would have been like to march the trail with George Washington enroute to Fort Ligonier, and then on to capture Fort Duquesne (renamed Fort Pitt) in 1758 during the French and Indian War.
Will was and is active in Boy Scouting. His Emsworth, Pennsylvania Explorer Post specialized in outdoor activities. They undertook 50-mile hikes and canoe trips as well as camping in the mountains of Pennsylvania and at Philmont Scout Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. Will earned Eagle Scout, and has served Scouting in a number of leadership roles including service as an Assistant Scoutmaster in Philadelphia’s inner city and Vice Chairman, Finance of the DuPage Area Council (now Three Fires Council) in Chicago’s suburbs. In 1999 he was named a Distinguished Eagle Scout. He conceptualized and developed the Boy Scout Values Compass to remind Scouts to apply the values they learned in Scouting throughout life.
Will graduated from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa. with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering. He attended the Wharton Graduate School of Business, University of Pennsylvania for a year before joining the Navy in 1969. While in the Navy, Will was commissioned an Ensign at the Aviation Officer Candidate School at Pensacola, Florida, and then earned his wings as a Naval Flight Officer. During his tour he rose to Lieutenant and earned the designation of Tactical Coordinator and Mission Commander in the P-3 Orion aircraft. He flew anti-submarine patrols in the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico. After completing four and a half years on active duty, he studied another year at Wharton before joining the international banking department of The First National Bank of Chicago (now JPMorgan Chase). He served in the bank’s Asia Pacific region including three years living in Korea where he headed lending at the bank’s Seoul, Korea Branch.
In 1980 Will became Assistant Treasurer-International of Nalco Chemical Company, a Fortune 500 global water treatment company. A year later, he was promoted to Treasurer. In that capacity he built and led a world-class Treasury for Nalco. He also served on the Boards of and started several of Nalco’s international companies. In 1985, he completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School. He retired from Nalco in 2000 when the French company, Suez, bought it. Nalco had approximately $2.5 billion in annual sales when he left.
With his wife and daughter, he founded, and for twelve years owned and operated The Meadows Farm, Ltd.—a 54-stall, hunter-jumper and dressage equestrian training facility in Hawthorn Woods, Illinois. Will and his wife have actively encouraged the construction of an Illinois Equestrian Center at Parkland College in Champaign, Il for students of both the University of Illinois and Parkland College. Their daughter is an engineering graduate of the University of Illinois, holds a Masters in Bio Medical Science and is studying for her DVM in Veterinary Medicine.
Will taught stock and mutual fund investing at Parkland College using the powerful ideas in his books. He also speaks on subjects related to strengthening free enterprise at universities and businesses as well as to community groups. Will is a strong believer in educating young people in how to gain their economic freedom by becoming millionaires for as little as $3.36/day. He is in the process of founding a TEEN MILLIONAIRE Movement™.
Will volunteered two years of time to assist in fund raising and improving the admin and operations of the Golden Gate Volunteer Fire District in Golden, Colorado.
Will is an Associate member of the Western Writers of America.
In 2002, he published his first book, Rich Shareowner, Poor Shareowner™ which John Wiley & Sons highly regarded Stock Trader’s Almanac:2003 named one of the “Year’s Top Investment Books.” In 2005, Stock Trader’s Almanac: 2006 named Will’s second book, Money Ain’t Free: The True Cause of the Crisis in Corporate Responsibility as one of that “Year’s Top Investment Books.” Will is currently working on a third book, Rediscovering Free Enterprise: Freedom's Imperative.
Will is on Facebook and Linked-In.