Bill Arnold is Professor in the Practice of Energy Management at the Jones Graduate School of Business at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Bill joined Rice in June 2009 and taught courses on the Geopolitics of Energy and Managing Energy Transitions. He actively engages with professionals in academia and industry from around the world. Previously, as Royal Dutch Shell's Washington Director of International Government Relations and Senior Counsel for the Middle East, Latin America, and North Africa, he engaged at the highest levels of government in the US and abroad to provide geopolitical insights, develop business strategies, build scenarios, and advance multi-billion dollar projects. He had been with Shell since 1993.

Bill held a White House appointment as Senior Vice President of the Export Import Bank of the United States from 1983 to 1988, when he received the Distinguished Service Award. He was Eximbank’s liaison officer to the Berne Union, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He developed special export credit packages for Brazil and Mexico during the first Latin American debt crisis.

His international banking experience includes: Executive Vice President/International Banking Division of First City National Bank-Houston (now JPMorganChase); General Manager, COMIND International Banking Corporation (now Banco do Brasil); and Vice President/Manager of the Latin America Division of Texas Commerce Bancshares (now JPMorganChase).

Bill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics from Cornell University; a Master of Arts in Latin American Studies and a Master of Business Administration/International Finance from the University of Texas at Austin. While in his early 20s he was Field Director of Amigos de las Americas, a private international development organization with more than 250 volunteers in Honduras and Guatemala. He served in the US Army and was awarded the Army Commendation Medal.