William (Bill) Adams is Chief U.S. Economist at Fifth Third Commercial Bank, where he leads analysis of the U.S. economy and macro trends impacting businesses and consumers. He is consistently recognized among America’s top economic forecasters in rankings by Bloomberg, Focus Economics, and Consensus Economics. Bill is widely quoted by the Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and Reuters, and regularly appears on Fox Business and NPR’s Marketplace. He is a sought-after speaker known for turning economic data into clear, actionable insights for executives, investors, and the public.

Bill joined the bank in 2022 after 10 years with The PNC Financial Services Group, where he served as senior vice president and senior economist. He began his career in economics as The Conference Board’s China Economist from 2009 to 2011, and is fluent in Mandarin Chinese.

Bill is co-author of In Line Behind a Billion People: How Scarcity Will Define China’s Ascent in the Next Decade, published in 2013 by the Financial Times Press. He is a member of the National Association for Business Economics and the Dallas Economics Club. He also serves on the board of directors of the Feeding North Texas Foundation, the endowment of the North Texas Food Bank.

Bill holds a masters degree from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard.