Bill King is a life-long resident of the Houston area. He was born and raised along Galveston Bay in Kemah, Texas. Mr. King was graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelors of Science - Cum Laude in 1974 and from the University of Houston Bates College of Law with a Juris Doctor in 1978.

His professional career began with a private law practice and after several years Mr. King ventured into the savings and loan business which he documented in a book about the crisis, Saving Face. Returning to the practice of law, he eventually became the Chair of the Management Committee of the nationwide law firm of Linebarger, Goggan, Blair and Sampson LLP. Mr. King retired from the the firm in 2006 and became of counsel to Bracewell and Giuliani LLP. Additionally, since 1999, Mr. King has been the President of Southwest Airport Services, Inc. which operates a fixed base operation at Ellington Field. He is also an investor or director in other business including Politicalendar, LLC, Emlogis, LLC and GB Tech, Inc.

Mr. King’s community involvement includes numerous public service and volunteer organizations. From 1992-2004, he served in various positions with the City of Kemah including the Kemah Economic Development Corporation, City Council and two terms as Mayor. During this time the Kemah facilitated the development of the Kemah Boardwalk which brings about 4 million visitors each year to Kemah.

He has also served in many capacities with charitable and civic organizations, including Interfaith Ministries of Houston, the Harris County Health Facilities Development Corporation, Galveston Bay Foundation and Fire Fighters Foundation of Houston. He is a member of St. Paul’s Methodist Church and serves on the Methodist Debakey Hearth and Vascular Council.

While serving as Mayor of Kemah, Mr. King developed a particular interest in mobility and hurricane preparation. As result he has served on a number of groups concentrating on these issues including the Greater Houston Partnership Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (now known as the Mobility Committee) and Houston-Galveston Area Council’s Transportation Policy Council.

In 2003, Mr. King began to raise, in a number of speeches and published articles, his concern that the Houston region was unprepared for a widespread evacuation in the event of a major hurricane. In 2005 in the wake of Hurricane Rita, Mr. King was appointed by Governor Rick Perry to serve on task force on Evacuation to develop new state-wide emergency plans. The same year, the county judges of Harris, Galveston and Brazoria County appointed him to chair a regional committee investigating problems with the Rita evacuation and to develop new evacuation plans. His work on these task forces earned him the National Hurricane Conference Outstanding Achievement Award for Mitigation in 2006 and the Weather Hero Award from the Houston Weather Museum.

Mr. King currently writes a bi-weekly column for the Houston Chronicle on public policy issues and is commentator on local television stations. He also publishes as widely followed blog on public policy issues, www.BillKingBlog.com.