Bill Groener, ESTA President, and Vice President/General Manager of the Northeast Region for Production Resource Group, received both undergraduate and graduate degrees in Theatre Design and Technology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and spent the first 10 years of his 30-year career working in a variety of lighting design and production roles. These included a faculty position at Williams College and theme park design assignments for WED (now Walt Disney Imagineering). In 1984, Bill began a series of business development and management roles at major entertainment technology companies, serving as Executive Vice President/General Manager of Strand Lighting, National Sales and Marketing Manager at Elliptipar, Manager of Barbizon’s NY based System Sales Group, and Manager of the Systems Installation Group at Production Arts NY/NJ. During this time, he also established and managed his own manufacturer's rep agency in New York. Following PRG's acquisition of Production Arts in 1998, Bill was given responsibility for all of PRG's systems installation business. In 2001, he was named General Manager of PRG's New Jersey office, and in 2002, was named Group Vice President of PRG's Northeast Region. In 2005, Bill assumed responsibility for all Permanent Installation efforts and was named Vice President/General Manager of this rapidly growing division. Throughout his career, Bill has been actively involved in the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) and the Entertainment Services and Technology Association (ESTA). For ESTA, he has been a member of the Executive Board, served as the Chairman of its Technical Standards Committee for five years, serves as a member of the Board of Directors for The ESTA Foundation and is the current ESTA President.