It is with great sadness that we share the news that PEC Board member Bill Morelli, 56, of Spring Lake, NJ, passed away November 8, 2020, from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident.

Bill received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at New York Institute of Technology, followed later with an MBA at Florida Institute of Technology.

Bill has been associated with Picatinny Arsenal for over 30 years, and started his career as an engineer for CCDC-AC in the mid-1980s. In his R&D experience with the Army, he developed S&T road maps for counter-IEDs; performed analyses of alternatives for counter-IEDs, anti-personnel landmine alternatives, and EOD render safe procedures; and evaluated Army Laboratory S&T programs when assigned on detail to ASA(ALT). In the early 2000s Bill worked at Ft. Monmouth, where he designed and fielded Counter-Radio- controlled IED Electronic Warfare (CREW) jammers.

His professional leadership positions as a DoD civilian also included Assistant Product Manager Futures, PM CREW (counter IED); Strategic Planning Team Leader PEO IEW&S; Assistant Product Manager APLA, PM Close Combat Systems; Business Unit Manager and Chief Engineer EOD Tech Division, METC, ARDEC; Science & Technology Manager, ASA(ALT) Pentagon, Washington, DC; Lead Investigator, Director of Defense Research & Engineering, OSD, Pentagon; Team Leader, Electric Armaments Program Office, Picatinny; and Systems Engineer, Nuclear Division, FSAC, ARDEC.

After leaving Monmouth and starting his own consulting firm, Bill joined SAVIT in 2013 as its president. He led SAVIT’s support of Picatinny in the acceleration of numerous programs, including work on Extended Range Cannon Artillery (ERCA) weapon and munition programs, various EOD technologies for IED detect and defeat, small- and medium-caliber munition programs, Area Denial modernization, and other efforts supporting six of the eight current Army Futures Commands Cross Functional Teams (CFTs).

Under his leadership, SAVIT successfully competed for and won hundreds of contracts that resulted in reduced Government costs, reduced risk, and rapid fielding of emerging technologies. Bill served as a leader, mentor, sounding board, and friend to his numerous colleagues at SAVIT. Through SAVIT’s internship program, dozens of young professionals were trained under his tutelage. Many of these individuals have moved on to support Team Picatinny and the industrial base.

Bill was also active in supporting the Picatinny community. In addition to the PEC, he also served as a board member of the Picatinny Chapter NDIA, a member of congressional-level Picatinny Working Groups, and a council member of the NJ Governor’s Council on Armed Forces & Veterans Affairs.

A proud American, Bill had an American flag on everything he owned. He loved his family, many friends, and his country. He spent most of his time enjoying outdoor sports like surfing at Spring Lake South Pier and skiing at Killington, VT; Hunter, NY; and Alta, UT. Bill greatly enjoyed a round of golf and, most importantly, sailing at MRYC and LYC.

Bill’s vision for the PEC was to provide a construct to develop a closer working relationship between traditional and nontraditional defense contractors, academic institutions, and government defense agencies to provide our warfighters with tactical advantage through superior tools and equipment, and to support the enhancement of Picatinny Arsenal missions. The PEC will continue to support this vision.