Officers and Directors of the Lone Star Chapter

Bill Retz

Rear Admiral Bill Retz completed his active Naval service in October 1995 after 32+ years as a Surface Warfare Officer.  His increasingly responsible experience included commands at sea at the ship (USS Stump DD978), squadron (DESRON 22) and group(SURFGRUMIDPAC) level.  Ashore he worked predominately in the area of personnel/manpower management where he was a proven specialist and included two flag tours at the Bureau level.  He served with the river patrol forces in Vietnam, the amphibious forces during the ’73 MidEast crisis and in the Persian Gulf.  He conducted several of the early shipboard at sea tests of Tomahawk.  As the Deputy for Operations at the US Central Command during the “tanker war” in the Persian Gulf, he was responsible for improving the remote stateside command links for those operations.  He participated in the planning for operations which later became Desert Storm. .  From 1992-94 he commanded Naval Base Pearl Harbor and the Naval Surface Group Middle Pacific.
Rear Admiral Retz later commanded and was responsible for the final closure of the Philadelphia Naval Base. Rear Admiral Retz’ decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (3 gold stars), Bronze Star with combat “V”, Purple Heart, Meritorious Service Medal with gold star, Navy Commendation Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Presidential Unit Citation, Meritorious Unit Citation and various campaign and service awards.

After leaving active duty, Admiral Retz was employed as Vice President ARAMARK Corp in Philadelphia from 1996-1999 and later opened his own consulting business.  In Sep 2000, Rear Admiral Retz was named CEO of NOFIRE Technologies Corp. a publicly traded company specializing in the manufacture of fire retardant coatings and engineered products. Following this, he assumed responsibilities as Executive Director, operations for the American Competitiveness Institute (a NFP company dealing in advanced circuit board technology) and head of the Center for Rotorcraft Innovation.  He left that position in 2005 and concentrates full time on his consulting business.  Rear Admiral Retz is Chairman of the Texoma Technical Enterprise Council, a director of the Denison Development Foundation, Trustee of St. Lukes School and a member of the Navy League, Surface Navy Association and other military related organizations.  He and his wife Julia reside in Denison, TX.