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William Baird
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A people-focused global mobility professional, Will has a strong track record of building large-scale immigration programs and managing the workforce movement of thousands of employees around the world. With a particular emphasis on compliance and strategy as well as development and implementation of new technologies, he works with multinational and mid-tier companies across several sectors, including energy and technology, on cost-effective and efficient methods of moving their workforce around the world.
Whether assessing and fine-tuning an existing program or developing one from the ground up, Will uses data to measure each client’s process from a financial and business goals impact. He then provides a roadmap of how the program should function to meet the client’s business and workforce objectives, ensuring speed-to-market combined with full compliance and a positive end-to-end employee experience.
As someone who has traversed the immigration system himself, he not only is able to provide pragmatic guidance to clients but is also able to empathize with their employees. Will builds long-lasting relationships through trust and results, simultaneously meeting clients’ objectives and elevating the client contacts within their own organization. A natural problem-solver, Will prides himself on working through various combinations to reach a favorable solution, including knowing how to connect and collaborate across jurisdictions with the right people within the firm.
Will also has deep crisis management experience, most recently gained through the support of several large evacuations during the Covid-19 pandemic. As geopolitical events and government approaches to policy continue to make immigration more complex, Will works closely with global mobility teams to help stakeholders understand the effects on their ability to move their employees around the world and the various nuances associated with each country’s process.
Will has more than 15 years of global mobility and immigration experience having worked at several major firms, including previous roles at Fragomen in APAC, Europe and the Americas. Throughout his career, he has helped countless employees, across many cultures and is grateful to be able to play a small part in globalization and economic growth.
Education
- University College of Dublin, L.L.M in Intellectual Property & Information Technology Law
- Griffith College Dublin, Bachelor of Irish Law
- Victoria University, Certificate in Australian Migration Law & Practice
More from William
Experience
Led immigration compliance aspects of a corporate restructure impacting 500+ client employees in over 30 countries, partnering closely with senior stakeholders and other corporate functions to ensure global go-live date was met.
Managed a sub-division entity spin off working with the client’s corporate counsel, in-house legal team and global mobility to ensure new entities were set up correctly in order to sponsor employee population moving to the new entities.
In collaboration with client, introduced new data points to their immigration program resulting in increased employee satisfaction scores, speed to market and confidence with business stakeholders.
Designed and implemented a wide range of client immigration programs to provide global oversight with strong local engagement and support. Achieved through data analytics and setting the right data points focusing on continuous enhancement of the programs.
William’s insights
October 31, 2023 — November 1, 2023 | Conference
