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William Phelan

Senior Finance Executive

William Phelan

William (Bill) Phelan is a highly experienced and well-rounded finance professional. Bill has extensive board experience, both interfacing with boards as management and serving as the chair of both the board and the audit committee of a publicly traded company (Bill has been a Certified Public Accountant for nearly 40 years). 

Bill has extensive experience across all finance disciplines - his greatest strengths being in controllership, treasury, and complex transactions. Bill has participated in and/or led many capital market and business acquisition/divestiture transactions totaling tens of billions of dollars.  Bill also has a detailed working knowledge of benefit plans, particularly defined benefit and defined contribution plans, developed from overseeing the Sears and American Bar Association plans for years.  Throughout his career Bill has consistently demonstrated his critical thinking skills - identifying the key issues of a matter, considering all implications, and then focusing resources for resolution.

Bill served for eleven years as the Chief Financial Officer of the American Bar Association (“ABA”), one of the largest voluntary professional membership organizations and the national voice of the legal profession.  At the ABA, Bill was responsible for the management of areas other than finance, including Human Resources, Development, Meetings & Travel, and Administrative Services for the ABA.   Bill joined the ABA as its CFO in 2013.

Prior to joining the ABA, Bill was with Sears Holdings Corporation (and its predecessor Sears, Roebuck and Co.) for 21 years where he progressed to Senior Vice President – Finance and was responsible for accounting, tax, treasury and insurance activities for the enterprise. He also served as Controller and Chief Accounting Officer for Sears Holdings from May 2005 until January 2012 and as acting Chief Financial Officer in 2011. Bill’s career began with Deloitte where he led audit engagements of multibillion-dollar companies and large, complex not-for-profit enterprises.

Bill served on the board, audit committee and compensation committee of Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, Inc., a publicly-traded company listed on the NASDAQ from October 2015 to April 2019 and he chaired both the board and audit committee.

Bill graduated from the University of Notre Dame and earned his CPA in 1985. He currently resides in Hoffman Estates, IL where he and his wife Lynn raised four children.

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