2009 Distinguished Alumnus Award

The 2009 Woodruff School Distinguished Alumnus

Bill Thacker (BME 1967)

Bill Thacker is the former Chairman and CEO of TEPPCO Partners, L.P, a four billion dollar publicly traded pipeline, petroleum storage and crude oil marketing company located in Houston. He started his 40-plus year career in the energy sector in 1967 with Unocal Corporation as a refinery engineer in Beaumont, Texas. He served the energy industry in numerous positions including Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Association of Oil Pipelines and as a Director of the American Petroleum Institute. After retiring from full-time responsibilities in 2002, he continued his industry involvement by becoming a corporate director for two energy companies in Houston and a merchant electrical power producer in Atlanta. He is also President of Montgomery County, Texas Habitat for Humanity.

A sixth generation Georgian from Cherokee County, he spent his youth in the Atlanta area before graduating from Georgia Tech in 1967 with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. He went on to earn his MBA from Lamar University and is a graduate of the Executive Development Program at The Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University.

A supporter of Georgia Tech since graduation, Bill Thacker has been a member of the Roll Call for 42 consecutive years. He served ten years on the Woodruff School Advisory Board and is a member of the College of Engineering Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni and the Georgia Tech Founders' Council. He was on the Houston area steering committee for The Campaign for Georgia Tech and he and his wife Susan have funded Presidential Scholarships for minority students in the College of Engineering.

Bill Thacker lives in Montgomery, Texas about 50 miles north of Houston with his wife Susan, also from Atlanta and an Emory graduate. They have a son in Austin and a daughter in Houston, and five grandchildren. Bill plays a little golf and travels with Susan when they get a chance. A self-confessed "gear-head" since high school, he enjoys automobiles, especially racing his vintage 1975 BMW.

About the Award

The Woodruff School Distinguished Alumnus Award was inaugurated in 1989 to recognize an outstanding alumnus of the Woodruff School. The names of the winners are on permanent display in the lobby of the MRDC Building at Georgia Tech.