William Fenton was raised on the northeastern side of the San Francisco Bay Area, in Vallejo, California. Son to Matthew Vincent and Katherine Louise Fenton, a maritime engineer and civil servant, he has one younger brother, Tom. The brothers began traveling abroad in middle school.

Trips within the family included a month in Portugal while in grammar school, and repeated trips to Hong Kong. In early 2000, they lived with their father on the Chinese mainland at Shekou, in the Shenzhen S.E.Z.. After a year of formal education in Japanese, William planned, coordinated, and facilitated a 2003 father-son trip to Kyoto, Japan as a “test” of his ability.

Working his way through university, William worked for a major chain of retail booksellers for two and a half years before working for Spectrum Center, Inc (a subsidiary of Educational Services of America). Working his way up from a substitute, he took a supervised, non-credentialed collaborative classroom position at the high-functioning Asperger’s Syndrome classroom at a Mt. Diablo Unified School District high school. Taking night-courses concurrently with his support and instructional duties, Mr. Fenton transferred from Diablo Valley College with an Associate of Arts in Liberal Arts.

On moving to San Francisco in order to attend San Francisco State University, William joined the Japan Society of Northern California and took several courses in Japanese to improve his speaking vocabulary, reading, and composition. He received high marks on his analysis of AFLAC’s health and supplemental cancer insurance operations in Japan, abstracts on the roles of European subsidiaries of Japanese firms, and profit sustainability briefing of Sony’s Playstation unit. At the 2011 International Business departmental reception for the class of 2010, William was recognized for his volunteer efforts to the International Business department and its student organization, the International Business Society.

William currently writes freelance articles for websites and tracks macroeconomic indicators for several currency areas.

Last Update: September 2010