Will received a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois in 1990. He then worked for Cooper Industries and held various positions within Quality Assurance, Manufacturing Engineering, Shop Floor Supervision and Engineering Supervision.
At Ohio State, he studied the Vietnamese and Mexican auto industries as semester projects in graduate school. Prior to graduating with a Masters in Business Administration, Will worked for Ford Motor Company as an MBA intern.
After graduate school, Will studied Chinese at the Northern Transportation University in Beijing, China, and then began working for General Motor’s Delco Electronics division in Singapore. He held several financial positions in Indiana, and then took an 18-month assignment in Sao Paulo, Brazil at Delphi Automotive System’s South American headquarters.
It was in South America that Will began to develop the dream of a simple car that could bring transportation to the developing world. In 2000 he began working on designs for the vehicle and founded the Institute for Affordable Transportation soon after.
Will resides in the Indianapolis area with his wife and 3 children. He is a member of Hazel Dell Christian Church in Carmel, Indiana.
Will is featured in the book Generation BIG by Jeffrey Smith, published in the summer of 2009. The book profiles “BIG” people (Bold, Innovative, and Generous) and tells the stories of their ideas, challenges, and success.
The authors of the book have been generous enough to set up a program in which $5.00 from every book sale is donated to an organization of the buyer’s choice.
You can purchase the book and send a portion of the profit to the IAT to support our mission.
