Many happy returns to Bill Austin

This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the company he founded in 1967. Initially known as Professional Hearing Aid Service, Bill Austin merged his new company with a small earmould facility (Starkey Labs) he bought in 1970 for $13,000. Today Starkey Hearing Technologies is the largest hearing aid manufacturer in the USA and in the top six globally.

Whilst Forbes ranks Mr Austin in their global billionaire list, Bill is more often known for his philanthropic work across the world. Age is certainly no barrier in his mission to give the gift of hearing, in fact as each year passes more people are benefitting from the work of the Starkey Hearing Foundation. William F Austin has pledged to fit 1 million hearing aids in a decade and is looking likely to exceed the challenge set by President Bill Clinton. Mr Austin and his wife Tani travel the world, changing lives with the SHF team in more than 100 countries.

Mr. Austin has received many honours for his philanthropic work, including: the Horatio Alger Award, Mexico’s Aztec Eagle Award, the Jefferson Award, the Albert Schweitzer Leadership Award, the National Caring Award, and the Humanitarian Award from Variety International.

Audio Infos has interviewed Bill Austin on numerous occasions. During a recent chat, age, travel and work schedule were discussed. Austin said, “I work every day and I am blessed to work every day. What I contribute, gives me life. I need to do what I can do.” He is constantly trying to find ways to fit more into his schedule, “My challenge is to find more time to do more work. You can always make more money; you cannot make more time. So you have to find ways to use the available time more and more efficiently.” And he certainly has no intention of paring back his work, “How can I slow down? If I say I am going to do something then I have keep my word. I don’t want to say no when somebody asks for help.”

Happy Birthday!