A leader of creative teams (marketing, new media & product design) by profession, William may be best known as the marketing genius behind the rapid rise and success of Internet giant Earthlink, or as the design leader who built and lead the global consumer product design organization at Symantec (Norton, LifeLock, SurfEasy) the global leader in cybersecurity.
He is also a veteran of well over 70 film marketing campaigns and a Hollywood Reporter Key Art Award winner for his work for the American Film Institute.
Over the years he’s built and led a number of successful creative teams and held multiple leadership positions in technology and media organizations. They include VP Global Product Design at Symantec later NortonLifeLock, VP Marketing and Market Development at Earthlink, Creative Director at national publisher e.Republic, President of New Media at Platinum Studios, Director of Marketing for Helio (acquired by Virgin Mobile), founding CEO of a direct marketing company that achieved #66 on the Inc 500 by its third year, and Managing Partner of Hollywood advertising agency Orion Communications.
He has a reputation of building great teams and increasing market share and revenues wherever he goes.
While recognized professionally for his marketing prowess and creative team leadership, William’s somewhat secret other life is as a writer. Early on he wrote the occasional magazine article and penned the popular column Mojo Tech for the magazine California Computer News.
He also had success writing movies. William’s screenwriting credits include Warner Bros. & Concorde Pictures produced feature film Virtual Seduction. He’s had over a half dozen scripts optioned, some repeatedly, and wrote a work-for-hire script that ended up at Disney. He also does the occasional story consulting for producers.
In 2010 William’s first novel A Feast at the Beach was released at a star-studded party at the Beverly Hills residence of the Consul General of France. The novel is an evocative autobiographical Franco-American coming of age tale that takes place in the coastal town of Saint Tropez in Provence, France and was well received with many positive reviews. The book hit the top 10 bestseller list for its category a number of times on Amazon and was also available at most major bookstores.
Over the years tech companies, movie producers, entrepreneurs, and investment bankers have sought William for advice. On occasion they still do.
In late 2020, after 10 years at Symantec/NortonLifeLock, where he built and lead an exceptional globally product design organization, he retired. Shortly therafter, in 2021 he bought a 265-year-old estate in the south of France where he now lives. He spends most of his time restoring the estate and creating a marvelous garden with his wife.
And of course, writing stories.
In May 2024, his book The Laughter of Small Gods,
Career Awards include:
- Gold “Design of the Times” Award
- Gold Aurora Award
- Hollywood Reporter Key Art Award
- Entrepreneurship & Corporate Leadership Award
- # 66 on the Inc 500
- Best in New Books, Bookviews
- 5 nominations, and 2 Maggie Awards
- Silver Star Award, Worldfest International Film Festival
- Symantec Global Partner Marketing Award
- Symantec Achievers MVP Award
William Widmaier 