William Friar is an American, the son of a U.S. foreign service officer and English mother, born in 1948. Though William grew up in the U.S., he lived in Sri Lanka for 5 years, Iran for 4 years, and spent time in Sudan and Malawi when his father was posted in those 2 countries. William completed secondary education in England, attended university in the U.S., and went on to complete an MBA with a concentration in finance.

Most of William’s career was spent on the staff of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, assigned to the Division of Corporation Finance in Washington, DC where he was a financial analyst, branch chief, and senior financial analyst, mostly working with financial companies. Now retired, William and his wife split their time between the Washington, DC area, Chincoteague Island, Virginia, and Naples, Florida.