A leader of creative teams (marketing & 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 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 CUshopper, 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 evocative autobiographical Franco-American coming of age memoir A Feast at the Beach was released at a star-studded party at the Beverly Hills residence of the Consul General of France. It is a nostalgic portrait of late 1960s Provence, much of taking place in the coastal town of Saint Tropez. The book was selected by Bookviews as “Best in new books”; praised by San Francisco Book Review, Bonjour PARIS, and French Morning Magazine. Georgeanne Brennan (A Pig in Provence) called it “lovingly written”; Vicki Archer (My French Life) “a delicious read.” The book repeatedly hit the top 10 bestseller list for its category on Amazon.
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 an almost 300-year-old estate in the south of France where he now lives. He spends most of his time taking advantage of the local cuisine, 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,
William is wrapping up his latest novel Tales of the Kraken: The Wolf with Two Legs and hopes for it to be released in late 2026.
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 