William (Bill) Peterson has over thirty years of experience in the aircraft Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) business in positions of increasing responsibility across a broad spectrum of disciplines, including military service, troubleshooting and repair, training instructor, operational management, sales and marketing, and international assignments.  Throughout these assignments, Bill has used Continuous Improvement tools such as Lean and Six Sigma to lead change in processes and organizational culture.   In July 2006, Bill retired from 26 years in Delta’s Technical Operation division.  

Along the way, Bill has earned his BS in Professional Aeronautics at Embry-Riddle, his FAA Airframe and Power Plant Licenses, a Black Belt certification in Six Sigma, and completed an MBA in Lean Aerospace at the University of Tennessee.

Since leaving Delta, Bill has been working with the Air Force for their AFSO 21 (Air Force Smart Operations for the 21st Century) initiatives in applying Lean and other continuous improvement tools to administrative processes at the Pentagon and the Air Force’s Special Operations base at Hurlburt Field, FL.

Bill Peterson has recently become a lecturer in UT’s Center for Executive Education and has developed a one-week course on Lean Applied to Administrative Processes (LAAP).