Bill Cassidy grew up in Aurora, Illinois, and attended the University of Illinois before moving to Arizona in 1979, where he graduated from Arizona State University. After college, he began his career in Southern California but returned to Arizona in 1988 to enter the financial services profession with New England Life. In 1995, he became a General Agent and later founded Spence, Cassidy & Associates, LLC, a Scottsdale-based insurance and investment advisory firm dedicated to helping families and business owners make informed financial decisions.
Bill joined NAIFA in 1989 and has served in multiple leadership roles, including President of NAIFA–Phoenix (1999–2000) and President of NAIFA–Arizona (2007–2008). He holds the CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, CLTC, and CEPA professional designations and is widely regarded for his mentorship and dedication to the profession.
He has always been deeply charitable and community minded. He served on the John C. Lincoln Foundation Board, and has long supported Phoenix Children’s Hospital, St. Mary’s Food Bank, and numerous other local causes. His passion for helping children took root when he became involved with the Thomas J. Pappas School for Homeless Children. After learning that many students were missing school simply because they lacked transportation, Bill made a bold promise: any child who achieved an 80% attendance rate would receive a bicycle.
Although nearly 200 students were eligible, Bill moved forward in faith — determined to keep his word. Through a partnership with Landis Cyclery and the generosity of bike manufacturers, every qualified child received a new bicycle. He fondly remembers when the bikes came, they were in boxes and needed to be assembled. He and friends spent most of a week getting them ready!
He also supported Canyon State Academy, run by the Rite of Passage Organization, through his friend and fellow NAIFA member Barry McBride. When Bill was relocating his office, he found himself with a large amount of quality office furniture that was being replaced. After learning from Barry that the Academy had just completed a new administrative building but lacked furnishings, Bill donated over 6,000 square feet of office furniture, including desks, chairs, conference tables, and an entire phone system — outfitting the entire facility at no cost to the school.
Today, he serves on the Board of Directors for Junior Achievement of Arizona, where he continues to champion financial literacy and workforce readiness for children ages 6 to 18. As Bill often says, “There are 1.2 million kids in Arizona — and last year, we reached 177,000 through JA programs. We are only scratching the surface, and there’s still so much more work to do.”
Bill has a sign in his office that reads: “A hundred years from now… it will not matter what my bank account was, the sort of house I lived in, or the kind of car I drove… but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.”
Bill lives a purposeful life based on that ideal. His dedication to community service, mentorship, and the betterment of children’s lives exemplifies the spirit of the Richard A. Martinez Community Service Award.