William Fortner, Counselor

Bill has been associated with the financial services industry for the past 25 years. He joined Lincoln Financial Advisors in 2013 as the Managing Director of the Pacific Regional Planning Group, based in San Ramon, California, and was promoted to Vice President, West Division in 2016. His territory includes Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Oregon, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, western Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.

Bill began his financial services career at the Bank of America where he was Vice President, District Financial Relationship Manager for the California Retail Division in Santa Barbara. He subsequently joined John Hancock Financial Services Group as a Financial Advisor and later the Hartford Financial Services Group, where he served as Director of Private Wealth Management for almost ten years. Prior to affiliating with Lincoln, Bill was a Regional Sales Vice President for MetLife’s National Accounts, covering Southern California and Hawaii.

Bill is a graduate of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communication Arts and Sciences. Bill is a permanent faculty member of the Southern California Institute and a Fellow in the organization’s Laureate Program, which offers California’s most complete business estate and wealth strategies curricula to help wealth advisors interact with clients to inspire action.

Bill is an accomplished public speaker and uses humor in his professional environment to keep his audience engaged in the message. He is a member of Board of Directors for De La Salle High School, a private Roman Catholic school for boys in Concord, California. Bill is also an avid endurance cyclist and has twice completed the Des Moines Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride across Iowa, a seven-day 468-mile ride, the largest and oldest ride of its kind in the world, benefitting several charities.