About Dr. Bill

Dr. Bill Hettinger is “The Professor” – Workforce Housing Expert, Leadership Coach, Purveyor of Professional Financial Literacy.

Dr. Bill is an expert at making the complex simple. He is an author, educator, coach, and speaker who excels at taking complex, technical concepts and translating these into simple, understandable language.

Dr. Bill was the President and Founder of Prosperous Communities, a housing and economic development consultancy. Dr. Bill has spoken nationwide on the housing market failure effecting resort communities, developed training to provide community development professionals with the skills needed to address a housing crisis, and coached community leaders through the development of strategies and implementation of solutions.

He is also a Founding Principal of the Institute for Finance & Entrepreneurship, where he has created a suite of classes to provide entrepreneurs and business professionals with the skills essential for success in the business world.

Dr. Bill has been featured in publications including the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, and the Kauffman Foundation’s Entrepreneurship.org. He has also been a guest on NPR and numerous local TV and radio shows.

Dr. Bill is the author of several books including:

His 2005 classic, Living and Working in Paradise, describes the housing crisis faced by workers in resort communities and details the solutions four communities have used to provide housing for the local workforce and preserve their communities;

In 2011, as a tool for the entrepreneur and small business owner struggling to understand the language of finance, he partnered to write Finance Without Fear, an easy to understand text that explains the basics of finance and guides the entrepreneur and business owner through the process of creating and managing a profitable business. Finance Without Fear is the winner of the 2011 Best Book Award for Finance and Small Business;

In 2014, frustrated with the structure of online education, he wrote Online Classes That Work! Discovering the Secrets to Teaching Online, a must-read guide to the online classroom that assists instructors, program heads, and designers in creating and teaching effective online and blended classes. Online Classes That Work! was finalist for both the 2014 International Book and USA Best Book Awards in the Education and Academic category;

In 2019, his latest finance book, Entrepreneurial Finance, was published by FlatWorld Publishing. Entrepreneurial Finance is an updated and expanded edition of Finance Without Fear designed specifically for use in finance and entrepreneurship classes;

He is currently researching a workforce housing solutions book for the post recession economy.

He earned his Ph.D. in International Development from the University of Southern Mississippi, where his research focused on housing and tourism. He also earned an MBA from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a BA from the University of Buffalo; he is a graduate of the Economic Development Institute at the University of Oklahoma; and holds an Advanced E-Learning Instructional Design Certificate from ASTD.

Dr. Bill’s consulting and education clients include resort communities, Fortune 500 companies, nonprofits, colleges and universities, corporate trainers, and individuals developing online courses or seeking assistance in launching their start-ups.