William Tomlinson

William Tomlinson is a Core Faculty Member of the Global China Initiative at the Boston University Global Development Policy Center and a proven servant technical leader with over a decade of industry experience in hardware and software development and leading large-scale interdisciplinary technical projects. Currently, William serves as the Director of the Software & Application Innovation Lab (SAIL), Boston University’s own professionally staffed software engineering firm. In this capacity, William is responsible for overseeing operations, shaping and implementing long-term strategic plans, and managing organizational growth while seeking to develop new opportunities and partnerships.

Before joining SAIL, William held the roles of Principal Engineer and Group Leader (technical manager) for the Embedded & Comm. Systems Group at Draper Laboratory (Cambridge, MA). Here he demonstrated proficiency in technical leadership, business development, strategic planning, program management and developing mission-critical systems for wireless communications. William received his Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from Northeastern University and an M.S. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and North Carolina A&T State University, respectively.