About

William “Will” J. Lannes, III has 47 years of experience in three different industries and is directly connected to a fourth through his role as Director of a major Community Bank, a position he held for over 35years. Upon graduating from Tulane University with a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering he entered the United States Marine Corps where he stayed eleven years in various assignments between two very different specialties, infantry, and electronics.  Five of those eleven years were involved in engineering assignments. While in the Marine Corps he received his Master of Science in Electronics Engineering at the U.S. Navy Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. His military career included a tour in combat in Vietnam as the operations officer of a Combined Action Group, the USMC unique pacification program.

After leaving the military he joined Louisiana Power & Light Company (LP&L) where he held various assignments in both system design and operations, and in production. He became the Chief Engineer for LP&L. He led several large engineering groups at the Vice President and Senior Vice President level. While involved in system design, he designed and energized the first uprated substation in the United States. This design pushed the envelope in high voltage design. While involved in production, he helped to initiate the first “partnering” program in the power plants. While in the electric industry, he was an active member of the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) located in Palo Alto, California. After twenty-two years in the electric industry (LP&L and Entergy) he took early retirement and entered the world of academia full time.

Will joined the University of New Orleans in 1992 as the Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Affairs in the College of Engineering. He led an interdisciplinary team that developed and implemented a new graduate program in engineering management. He also held a position in the Department of Management in the College of Business. The program was authorized in 1996 and he first served as the Director of the Engineering Management Program and when it became a Department in the College of Engineering he became the first Chairman of the Department.  He also taught electromagnetics covering Maxwell’s Equations in the Electrical Engineering Department.  He is the author of the book, “The Change Cycle Handbook: How to Initiate, Implement, and Institutionalize Change.” which was published by UNOPress in 2008. While at UNO he taught management courses at UNO’s Summer Abroad  Program in Innsbruck. When he retired in 2006 he was awarded the position of Professor Emeritus.

For his pioneering work in high voltage substation design, he was elected a Fellow in the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE). He was also selected as the IEEE  Outstanding Engineer for Region 3, a six-state area. He has published numerous papers and has been an invited speaker at professional meetings and conferences. He was presented the Prize Paper Award in Substations by the IEEE Power Engineering Society. He was elected to Who’s Who in American, Who’s Who in Science and Engineering, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, Who’s Who in Finance and Business, and has received numerous other awards.

He is a member of Holy Spirit Catholic Church in New Orleans and has served as a Lector, Eucharistic Minister, and on the Parish Council. He has always been interested in the connection between science and religion. In 2016 he published the book, “Yes Virginia There Is a God and He Created the Universe.” This book is available on Amazon. His hobbies are reading, art, and gardening.