Bill Read received his B.S. and M.S. in meteorology from Texas A&M in 1971 and 1976, respectively. His decades of experience serving in the meteorology field include flying into and forecasting tropical cyclones and other severe weather events for the U.S. Navy and the National Weather Service (NWS), working as a senior forecaster in the NWS Fort Worth office, and serving as meteorologist-in-charge of the NWS Houston-Galveston office for 15 years. He rose through the ranks of the NWS and was named director of the National Hurricane Center (NHC) in 2008, serving through 2012.

Read has since worked as a hurricane consultant to major television networks, and shared his advice and expertise with countless students

Bill is now working in the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas at the Galveston Campus and studying the changing threats of increased rainfall rates and hurricane behavior to the Texas coast.