William A. Singleton III now serves as the Global Director of Breakthrough Packaging Development at Mars Wrigley Confectionery in Chicago, IL, where he directs and coordinates the actions of a Packaging Development team in relentless search of new materials and business model opportunities to future-proof how we might operate in the retail landscape tomorrow. Specializing in innovation, new product development, and change management, William is known as a dynamic speaker and energetic leader. He also spends his free time helping a wide range of small businesses and inventors in the local community with innovation strategy, sales planning, and product development.
William has over 18 years of Business Model Innovation, R&D, Procurement, and Finance experience spanning the Chocolate, Pet, Food, and Wrigley categories of Mars, Inc. Most recently, he was the Wrigley Global Program Manager, where he worked closely with each region to develop and embed portfolio management practices into the business. Most notably, in just one year, William led the creation and successful deployment of stage-gate globally across Wrigley, with over 8,000 employees enrolling in a new innovation language. In addition to his responsibilities in North America, William also deployed innovation global portfolio review programs across Europe, Russia and the Middle East to ensure collaboration, harmonization, and resource allocation across all regions. He built communities of practice, and annual learning events to drive awareness of innovation best practices across the Mars community. Prior to this role, he was a Packaging Engineer where he drove new product development, cost savings, quality and sustainability across North America. William has an MBA from Vanderbilt University, Owen School of Business in Nashville, TN and an undergraduate degree in Packaging Science from Clemson University.