Bill Ruch

Technology Based Economic Development Practice

Bill Ruch is the Chair of Lewis-Burke’s Technology-Based Economic Development (TBED) Practice, which provides strategic support to clients on commercializing research from lab to market, launching new entrepreneurial assistance programming, forging public-private partnerships, shaping innovation policy, and pursuing regional economic development opportunities. In addition to these efforts, Bill’s diverse portfolio covers federal interests across the research and development spectrum, including serving as one of the firm’s top experts in federal social and behavioral science and domestic security efforts.  Bill leverages over a decade of experience supporting clients as they seek to pursue and advance opportunities throughout the federal research, innovation, tax, appropriations, and workforce spaces.  

Through the TBED Practice, Bill meets clients where they are in their commercialization/ecosystem-building journey through actionable intelligence on future federal direction, support for the development of sensible federal policies and programs, and direct connections with key decisionmakers.  These efforts have led to success for our clients in extraordinarily competitive programs and numerous policy wins.   

Bill’s day-to-day can include providing in-depth analysis on federal trends, targeted advocacy on Capitol Hill and at federal agencies, and coalition building with relevant stakeholders to bolster messaging. 

 Issue Expertise: Appropriations, economic development, technology transfer, social and behavioral sciences, criminal justice, homeland security, National Science Foundation (NSF), Department of Commerce, Department of Treasury, and STEM education. 

Additional Experience: Prior to joining Lewis-Burke, Bill accrued valuable state and local government experience at the Michigan House of Representatives and was involved in various political campaigns. 

Vital Statistics: Bill is a proud land-grant graduate, having attended Michigan State University, where he received his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with a concentration in Pre-Law. Outside of work, Bill enjoys distance running and American League baseball.