Bill Riley, Corden Street's Principal Consultant, is a senior executive whose career spans more than five decades of leadership in the nonprofit, federal government, and private consulting sectors.

Rare combination of experience

Bill is both a seasoned nonprofit chief operating officer and one of the  foremost experts in emergency management and FEMA disaster recovery — a rare combination that makes him a trusted advisor to organizations navigating complex operational, financial, and crisis-related challenges.

Non-profit executive

Bill has served as Chief Operating Officer of two consequential nonprofit organizations. From 1999 to 2007, he was COO of Holy Cross Family Ministries, a multinational nonprofit operating in 15 countries. He held full P&L responsibility, directed a corporate restructuring, oversaw the construction of a new world headquarters delivered on time and under budget, and managed a full organizational relocation with minimal disruption to mission.

Most recently, as the first COO of the Association to Preserve Cape Cod, a regional environmental advocacy organization (2023–2026), Bill engineered a comprehensive modernization of every core business function -- to accommodate a planned expansion and growth of annual revenue from $1.5M to more than $6M --  guiding the organization through its first Federal Single Audit, redesigning the grants management system, and building enterprise-grade HR, IT, and grant compliance infrastructure. He simultaneously managed the temporary relocation of operations and the renovation of the association's historic 19th-century barn into a model of energy efficiency while carefully preserving the structure's historic architectural characteristics.

Federal service and emergency management

Bill has participated in more than 60 presidentially declared disasters, worked in all ten FEMA regions, and helped clients secure more than $10 billion in federal disaster grant funding. He led the Public Sector Division at Witt O'Brien's — 65 consultants, a nearly 400-member on-call cadre, $75M+ in revenue — and co-founded AG Witt's disaster recovery practice, where his team secured $500M+ in client grant funding.

His federal career included six years as a FEMA Public Affairs Officer and a defining moment: recalled to federal service following September 11, 2001, to serve as a spokesperson and media liaison for the National Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces deployed to Ground Zero. He subsequently served on the 5-person start-up team of the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an executive branch federal agency, managing media relations and the agency's Incident Operations Center. Bill also managed the buildout of space and transition of the new agency to its permanent headquarters in Washington, DC.

Nationally recognized speaker

Bill has shared his expertise as a speaker and instructor at conferences and training sessions nationwide, presenting to organizations including the American Public Power Association, the National Rural Electric Cooperatives Association, the National Association of Counties, the Houston Local Emergency Planning Committee, Los Angeles Dept. of Water & Power / Southern California Public Power Authority, and Miami-Dade County, among others. 

He wrote the widely distributed FEMA publication Surviving the Storm: A Guide to Hurricane Preparedness and co-wrote the companion winter storm preparedness guide. He served as editor of FEMA Recovery Times. 

Bill's film credits include: Executive in Charge of Production of the award-winning documentary film 'God, Country, Notre Dame: The Story of Father Ted Hesburgh, CSC.'– Narrated by Regis Philbin | ©2005 Family Theater Productions | Aired on the Hallmark Channel, and: Co-Producer of the independent documentary short: "In His Path: The Life and Untimely Death of Father Francis E. Grogan, CSC" that chronicles the life of the Catholic priest who was a passenger on American Airlines flight 175 on 9-11.