2022 World Affairs Council of the Year
Network of Independent World Affairs Councils of America

Bill Diebenow

Real Estate Professional, Parks Realty

Bill Diebenow enjoys a career that spans real estate and travel industry responsibilities. Today, Bill advises clients with residential property needs in Middle TN for Parks Realty. His origin was at CB Commercial (now CBRE), and his experience includes residential and commercial transactions as agent, buyer, seller, investor, tenant, landlord and cross-county corporate relocation.

Earlier, Bill pursued a passion for global travel. He served in leadership and sales development roles within a number of tour companies, cruise lines and hospitality tech businesses. One major benefit was the opportunity to
visit over 100 countries, including multiple cruise explorations to the Arctic and Antarctica.

Bill’s favorite and most rewarding role was to rally his World Leaders Symposium staff to create a series of extraordinary, educational travel events. Partnering with prestigious museum and university alumni organizations — such as Vanderbilt, the Smithsonian, Stanford, Harvard, Yale, MIT and UC Berkeley — the company developed a roster of distinguished experts and opened doors not otherwise available to a typical traveler.

Celebrated personalities including Madeleine Albright, James Baker, Tom Brokaw, George and Barbara Bush, Sam Donaldson, Mikhail Gorbachev, Benjamin Netanyahu, Shimon Peres, and Condoleezza Rice participated as host speakers and cruise companions.

Bill graduated from Middlebury College in Vermont, majoring in East Asian Studies with an emphasis in Mandarin Chinese language. He also lived and studied abroad in Taiwan; at Beijing University in China; and at the Institute for American Universities, Aix-en-Provence, France.