William E. Mayer is the founder of Park Avenue Equity Partners. He was a Professor and Dean at the College of Business, University of Maryland, and at the College of Business, University of Rochester. Bill worked for The First Boston Corporation (Credit Suisse), where he was President and CEO. Bill is on the board of BlackRock Capital Investment Corporation and serves as an advisor to Premier, Inc. Bill was Chairman of the Aspen Institute, and Chairman of the Board of the University of Maryland. He is also a board member of Rosemore Inc., Lirio, Inc., Renovo Concepts, Friends of Florence, Washington Institute and Aspen Institute Italia. In addition, he is a member of the Board of Governors at the Pardee RAND Graduate School, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and an advisory council member at Harlem Academy. Bill was a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He holds a BS and an MBA from the University of Maryland.
Over the past many years, Bill has been involved in a variety of Aspen Institute programs including: Henry Crown Board of Overseers (Chair), Finance Leaders Fellowship (board member), Leadership Committee (past Chair, current board member) and the Business and Society Policy Program (board member). He helped Tom Farrey launch the Sports and Society Policy Program, worked with Clare Munana do an audit of Aspen Italia, and has participated in many of the seminars and policy programs that the Institute offers. Bill has also been an active participant as well as a moderator, in the Resnick Action Forums and Aspen Executive Seminars, and has moderated the Globalization Seminar, and the first YPO Seminar with David Langstaff and Arjun Gupta (September 2021). As past Chairman of the Aspen Institute, Bill has been a speaker/panelist at several Ideas Festivals.