William F. Owens, Jr.
Senior Advisor
Billy Owens is a senior advisor at New Republic Partners leading the firm’s South Carolina market in serving high-net-worth families and entrepreneurs heading rapid growth companies.
His career in financial services consulting spans 40 years and includes a variety of leadership roles at PwC in the firm’s domestic and global practices. More recently, he served as an independent advisor to growth companies, including BaseCap Analytics, Vialto Partners, AlphaThena Technology, Update Beverage Consultants and others.
Billy retired from PwC as a partner after serving the firm and clients for over 32 years. His many roles at PwC included a leadership role as managing partner for the PwC Carolina’s tax practice where he managed teams and strategic planning and personally consulted with SEC registered clients, closely held businesses and high-wealth individuals.
He served as the PwC global relationship partner for FedEx and related parties and led a global team advising the company on business growth strategies, M&A and global tax planning. He was a personal advisor to the FedEx C Suite.
Billy was the global managing partner for PwC’s human resource services (HRS) international network operating in over 75 countries and exceeding $1B in revenue during his leadership tenure. Billy led key client relationships globally and drove strategy, client acquisition activities and branding. Clayton Dubilier and Rice acquired the practice, now Vialto Partners, from PwC in 2022.
Billy also served as vice chairman for the PwC tax line of service, managing all technology investments, innovation, transformation and several national consulting practices. He led business strategy and operations including key practice IP and talent acquisitions.
As chief operating officer for PwC New Ventures, he helped establish and manage the firm’s incubator focused on creating digital products and “software as a service” business models across the PwC organization. This organization reported directly to the PwC chairman and Billy led a number of successful teams, alliance partners, product deliveries and investments.
Billy is a CPA and graduated from Clemson University with a Bachelor of Science in accounting.
He currently serves on the Clemson University Wilbur O. and Ann Powers Business School senior advisory board. Billy also serves on the board of Summit Leadership Partners, a growing private equity focused talent consulting firm.
Billy has held leadership roles supporting various community service organizations and his church. Billy is deeply devoted to Turn 2 for Youth, a non-profit charity he cofounded that collects and distributes baseball and softball equipment to children, teams and coaches in needy communities across the U.S. and around the world.