Bill Fulton, FAICP, was Director of the Kinder Institute for Urban Research from 2014 to 2022, during which time the Institute tripled its size and budget. Named one of the world’s 100 leading urban thinkers in 2009 by the website Planetizen, Fulton is considered one of the United States’ leading thought leaders on cities and urban issues. He is now a Professor of Practice at the University of California, San Diego, and a Senior Advisor to PFM Consulting Group.

In his career, Fulton has served as the Mayor of Ventura, California; Director of Planning & Economic Development for the City of San Diego; and Vice President for Policy at the advocacy group Smart Growth America. He has taught urban planning and public policy at many universities, including The LBJ School at the University of Texas and the College of Architecture and Urban Planning at Texas A&M. He has also written eight books, including The Texas Triangle: An Emerging Power In The Global Economy, co-authored with Henry Cisneros among others.

At the Kinder Institute, Fulton oversaw a significant expansion of the institute, moving it beyond the Kinder Houston Area Survey to become a significant influence in public policy of all kinds in the Houston region. Under his leadership, the Kinder Institute undertook such efforts as participating in policy innovations following Hurricane Harvey in 2017, analyzing citizen oversight of police in Houston and other Texas cities after the George Floyd murder in 2020, pioneering a coalition of Sunbelt cities with similar growth issues, and a comparison of Houston’s budget to that of other large Texas cities.

Fulton holds master’s degrees in Mass Communication from American University and Urban Planning from the Luskin School of Public Affairs at UCLA.