William R. Lennartz
In May of 2007, Bill Lennartz joined Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego (RMHC-SD) as President & CEO. RMHC-SD, which operates the San Diego Ronald McDonald House, provides a home-away-from-home to families with seriously ill children staying in area hospitals, as well as a premier Family Care Center, that provides a refuge during the day for these families.
Under Lennartz's leadership, a new House opened in July 2009, quadrupling the capacity of the previous Ronald McDonald House. The new House will serve 20,000 families this year and is the ultimate resource for the entire San Diego community and for families with children in medical crisis.
Previously, Lennartz served as President & CEO of the San Diego Air & Space Museum in Balboa Park/San Diego, where he was brought in to stabilize the financial condition of the Museum from 2005 to 2007. In 17 months, he acquired a wind tunnel for $1 that generated $400,000 annually, as well as increasing the special events profits of the Museum from $200,000 to $800,000. He also increased other revenues while minimizing expenses.
In December 2002, he retired as President & CEO of California Linear Devices, Inc. (CLD) in Carlsbad, CA. CLD designs, manufactures, and sells linear motors to a worldwide billion dollar marketplace. Previous to CLD, he was President & CEO of Avcon, Inc. in Woodland Hills, CA. where the linear motor was developed. He purchased the patent and all rights to the linear motor from Avcon in July, 1998 and formed CLD.
Lennartz was co-founder, President, & CEO of Sciteq Electronics in San Diego, CA. from 1992 to1996. Sciteq grew to a $5 million frequency synthesizer company in the telecommunications industry and was successfully sold in 1996 to Osicom Technologies.
In 1991, he became President & CEO of Hixson Metal Finishing in Newport Beach, CA to help a good friend stricken with cancer. The company was leaderless and losing money. He turned the company into a profitable company with $6.5 million in revenues and turned it back over to the management team to operate for the owner.
In 1977, he founded Computer Power Systems Corp. (CPS) in Carson, CA. CPS was a manufacturer of electrical filtering and distribution equipment for the computer room and grew from 0 to $30 million in annual revenues. It sold in 1984 to Emerson Electric Company. He operated the division for Emerson for the next four years and quadrupled the company’s profitability. CPS was the top performing acquisition for Emerson. It was also the top “Best Cost Producer” division of all of Emerson’s 40 divisions.
In 1968, Lennartz founded his first company, Lencor International in Anaheim, CA. Lencor became a major computer disk pack manufacturer and the company grew to $20 million in annual revenues. In 1977, the company successfully merged into Memorex Corporation.
In 1963, Lennartz graduated from the Business School at the University of Colorado with a BS Degree in Finance/Marketing and joined the IBM Corporation in Los Angeles as an account manager. He worked for IBM in Los Angeles for 5 years.
Lennartz was a founding member of the School of Entrepreneurship in the Business School at the University of Southern California, which was recently ranked the #1 Entrepreneurial School in the nation by Success Magazine. He served on its advisory board from 1974 to 1984. In 2000, he taught two graduate courses: “Mindset of a CEO/Founder” and “Growing a Business that Doubles in Size Every Two Years”. He was also a member of the Dean’s Advisory Council of the School of Business at The University of Colorado and is active as a guest lecturer in both programs.
Lennartz was a member of the Young President’s Organization for 18 years and served for four years on its International Board of Directors. He is currently a member of The SW WPO 49er Group in San Diego. In 1987, he was SWWPO 49er Group senior vice president of North America presiding over 4,000 members. He also serves on the CEO Roundtable in San Diego. He was a member of the Board of the San Pedro, CA YMCA and was a founding trustee and officer of the Palos Verdes Education Foundation, which was formed to raise capital to assist the public school district on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The Foundation has since raised over $25 million for the local school district.
Lennartz was also active in the management of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. He served on the Licensing & Merchandising Commission, which negotiated contracts with ABC and 30 Corporate Sponsors raising over $700 million.
Lennartz was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1941 and currently resides in Rancho Santa Fe, CA. with his wife, Nancy. He has three married daughters and sons-in-law and five grandchildren. He believes his family is his greatest accomplishment.