Bill Foulkes is a strategic planning and marketing consultant and entrepreneur. The course he created, Design and Entrepreneurial Thinking, introduces artists and designers to business concepts and enhances their abilities to bring their ideas to reality. This curriculum originated during Foulkes’ tenure as executive director of the Center for Design and Business at RISD (2006–08). The Center helped businesses, educational institutions and government entities set up and manage collaborative design research projects with RISD students, faculty and alumni.

Foulkes has over 20 years of experience in strategic planning, people development, marketing and finance in both high-tech and consumer companies where he has successfully identified, communicated and implemented new business concepts and initiatives, led organizational change, built strategic partner relationships and led creative processes. He has been on the executive team of several small startups, including MTI Group Holdings and Context Media. Prior to joining these firms, he was a strategy consultant at Telesis, a division of Towers Perrin. Foulkes' experience also includes consumer product marketing at Gillette and investment banking at Morgan Stanley.