PRESS RELEASE
DECEMBER 19, 2001
MOUNTED PATROL OF SAN MATEO COUNTY
521 King's Mountain Road, Woodside, California 94062.
For further information, contact Howard Boone at 650-365-9160.
The Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County, headquartered in Woodside, is holding its 59th Annual Installation of Officers at the Stanford Faculty Club on January 19, 2001. In addition to installing new officers, the occasion celebrates presentation of the "Outstanding Horseperson-Citizen Award", the 17th such presentation since the first award was presented in 1985. This year's recipient is Bill Wraith, a 25 year resident of Portola Valley. Qualifications for the award are as follows: must be a horseperson (no exceptions); has made outstanding contributions to our community and county; is recognized as a world-class citizen including, but not limited to, local or nationally recognized leadership of a professional, charitable, or community service nature; has made outstanding contributions to improving and maintaining horse trails, facilities, and county horsemanship in general.
All recipients must qualify on at least two of these categories, with deserving individuals of both genders considered in the selection process. Last year's recipient was Barbara Heine, former Executive Director of the National Center for Facilitated Therapy, located in Woodside - an internationally recognized leader and authority on the use of horses for providing remedial therapy to physically challenged individuals of all ages. Bill Wraith's background, including factors which the selection committee felt qualified him for the year 2001 award, is as follows:
"Taco Bill" Wraith was born in Anaconda, Montana. At age six, Bill's family moved to a small mining and cattle ranching town, "Cananea", in northern Mexico where his father managed a large copper mine, dedicated to serving the war effort (WW II). They lived next to the one million acre "Greene Cananea Cattle Company" cattle ranch, the largest in the world at that time. Bill's grandfather, a Montana rancher, sent them several horses and two dairy cows. As a result, Bill grew up riding every day after school and helped run the family dairy. His favorite horse was Dulce, a "Carthusian" mare (originally bred by Spanish monks to carry armor), imported from Spain by a Bechtel construction executive who, after completing a major expansion of metallurgical facilities for the mine, gave her to Bill.
During summer vacations, Bill worked on various divisions of the Greene ranch where he, with 10 to 15 Mexican "vaqueros", herded and branded cattle, broke horses, and mended fences. They spent evenings around the chuckwagon drinking strong coffee, eating beans and tortillas, and singing Mexican songs with guitars. One summer, the division manager hung an accordion he had purchased in Italy for his wife (who never used it) on Bill. By the end of the summer, Bill learned to play it for the evening songfests. After the rancher gave him the accordion, Bill was advised it had been "hung" on him in reverse, too late to change - becoming the world's only "upside down accordionist".
Bill attended high school at New Mexico Military Institute, the last U.S. Army cavalry unit in the country, where he continued to ride every day, after classes, in mounted drill and combat exercises. In the early 50's, Bill attended Stanford, obtaining a BS in Minerals Engineering and officer's commission in the Air National Guard. He served two years on active duty at Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento, retiring as a captain in the reserves. While at Mather, he married his college sweetheart, Leslie, and son Bill was born a year later. He returned to Stanford for two more years, obtained MS and MBA degrees, and served on the Stanford Geological Survey.
He spent the next 18 years with two mining companies, starting in 1959 as an engineer for The Anaconda Company in Butte, Montana, where son Steve was born. Bill and his father acquired a ranch nearby on Rock Creek, a "great trout stream", which they have visited every summer. Bill and Leslie kept two horses at the ranch, "Bob", a stocky quarter horse which Leslie rode, and "Quantreau", an Arab/quarter horse which Bill rode (and later shipped to Portola Valley for Leslie to ride). In 1963, Bill and Leslie moved to Lima, Peru where Bill was senior finance and logistics executive for an iron ore mine. He also served on the faculty of ESAN, a Peruvian graduate school of business, established in the 60's by the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Peruvian government. They returned every summer to spend vacations with Leslie's parents in Nevada and Bill's parents at their ranch in Montana.
In 1970, Bill rejoined Anaconda in New York as corporate officer responsible for energy and logistics for this global producer of copper, aluminum, and uranium. In 1975, after Anaconda became an acquisition target, Bill's employer in Peru, Marcona Corp., asked him to rejoin them in San Francisco as corporate officer in charge of worldwide mineral operations, including an undersea mining subsidiary in the Bahamas and titanium mine in New Zealand. Bill and Leslie relocated from New Jersey to Portola Valley in 1975, together with their "Montana horse" Quantreau and Boy Blue, a black Arab. In 1977, following acquisition of Marcona by another company, Bill was faced with a move back to the East Coast. He elected to remain in the Bay Area, becoming a Partner of David Powell, Inc., a management consulting firm he helped build and continues to serve as a partner of the firm.
In the late 80's, Bill formed The Wraith Group, Inc., to carry out December 1, 2006cipated and arranged cleanup of the Persian Gulf oil spill, unleashed by Sadam Hussein from oil fields in Kuwait. He subsequently won the AM General HUMMER automotive distributorship for Saudi Arabia, in partnership with in-country interests. In 1992, in support of Stanford neurosurgeon/inventor, Dr. John Adler, he found seed money and first overseas customer for startup of Accuray, Inc., and funding for its first beta-site at Stanford Medical Center. This included support from a Mounted Patrol fundraising event and subsequent funding totaling almost two million dollars. Its product, the CyberKnife, has received FDA approval for non-invasive removal and treatment of cancerous tumors throughout the body. He is currently serving as co-founder of CareTest Corp., a startup aimed at reducing time and cost of obtaining FDA drug and device approvals by developing a more reliable base of patients, data, and bodily fluids for clinical trials.
After joining the Woodside Trail Club in 1975, their Portola Valley friends, the Lopez's and Baumbachs, introduced Bill and Leslie to the ShackRiders, Mounted Patrol, and San Mateo County Horseman's Association. Bill subsequently served on the ShackRiders and Woodside Trail Club boards and, in 1987, as Captain of the Mounted Patrol. He was named "Taco Bill" when Rick and Rose Corso made him into a giant "taco" at a Couples Ride "roast". Bill and Tony Lopez put on a "Shack Ride to Mexico" in the late 70's for 35 ShackRiders, spending six days on Mexican cavalry horses, evening parties with mariachis, and as contestants in a "Charro" rodeo. In the 80's, Bill joined the "Coast Riders", an annual five day ride to the ocean, spending evenings at the campfire singing Mexican ballads. Similarly, he has serenaded Mounted Patrol, Shack, and other riders with such favorites as "Granada", "La Bamba", and "Ghost Riders". Bill had two more horses, Shazami, a fabulous Arab, then April, acquired in 1987, recently certified as a "Search and Rescue Horse" by the Sheriff's office. After organizing four "Les Vogt" reining clinics, Bill and April won an "all-around champion" buckle in 1992 at the Patrol's annual Putnam-Corso Playday event.
He has served on numerous boards, including startup, employee-owned, and publicly-held companies; board of directors, Stanford Business School Association; advisory board, Stanford School of Earth Sciences; board of governors, Stanford Associates; executive committee, Stanford Cancer Council; and trustee of a medical college. As Keystone National Deputy Chair for Stanford's five year, $1.3 billion Centennial fundraising campaign, he received six awards, including one for dedication to Stanford Medical Center in 1992 and Gold Spike in 1993. In 1996, he received the Philip Gardner Award for service to the California College of Podiatric Medicine. In 2001, he was elected Board Chair to lead restructuring of that 87 year old college's staff and board. This included recruiting new CEO, CFO, and trustees; eliminating costly healthcare practices; selling the property; moving to a lower cost location; eliminating all debt; and endowing the college with a multi-million dollar charitable foundation.
Bill has participated in search and rescue since joining the Patrol in the 70's and, after intensive training, was certified in 2001 as a "level-one", founding member of the San Mateo County Sheriff's mounted search and rescue (MSAR) unit. He plans to "retire soon" to spend more time with devoted wife, Leslie, sons Steve and Bill and their families, and his "beloved mare" April whose age, combined with Bill's, will reach 100 in four years.
Recently retired Superior Court Judge Tom Smith, first award recipient in 1985, said "Bill is an extremely hard worker who is a credit to our horse and world communities, having pioneered in health care, as a fundraiser for worthy causes, and as a professional, the basis for my nomination of Bill for this year's award".
Dr. John Adler, Stanford neurosurgeon, said "Thanks to Bill's support, we were able to fund the design, testing, and launch of the CyberKnife as an important new tool in saving and extending the lives of cancer patients throughout the world. He has my enthusiastic vote of gratitude as a most deserving recipient of this prestigious award."
Sheriff Don Horsely said "As a respected leader in equitation and community service, Bill has supported our callouts over the years as a member of the Mounted Patrol's search and rescue group. I am especially grateful for his volunteer role as a founding member of MSAR, in helping to significantly upgrade the county's search and rescue capabilities - an important element in our department's ability to respond quickly and professionally to emergencies throughout San Mateo County. He has earned my congratulations for this award".
