William B. Bonvillian is a member of ITIF’s board.
Bonvillian was formerly the director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Washington, DC, office, where he worked to support MIT’s strong and historic relations with federal R&D agencies and its role on national science policy. Prior to that position, he served for 17 years as legislative director and chief counsel to Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT). His legislative efforts at the senator’s office included science and technology policies and innovation issues. He worked extensively on legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security, intelligence reform, defense and life science R&D, and national competitiveness and innovation legislation.
He has lectured and given speeches before numerous organizations on science, technology, and innovation questions, and he has taught in this area at Georgetown University, MIT, and George Washington University.
He serves on the Board on Science Education of the National Academies of Sciences and was the recipient of the IEEE Distinguished Public Service Award in 2007.
Prior to his work in the Senate, he was a partner at a large national law firm. Early in his career, he served as the deputy assistant secretary and director of congressional affairs at the U.S. Department of Transportation, working on major transportation deregulation legislation.