Bill Mensch

Mensch is the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Western Design Center (WDC) located in Mesa, Arizona. Before founding WDC in 1978, Mensch held design engineering and management positions at Philco-Ford, Motorola, MOS Technology, and Integrated Circuit Engineering. At WDC, Mensch worked mainly on extending and expanding the 6502 architecture. His designs are used widely in embedded systems and implantable, electronic, life-support devices.

Shortly after Mensch founded the Western Design Center (WDC) in 1978, Commodore International contracted the company to develop what they called a "macro-micro", a macro-programmed complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor (CMOS) processor that could be used in a small and powerful calculator. However, WDC was unable to complete the project, and Commodore ended their relationship with the new company. Mensch claimed that Commodore never intended to use his design, and were instead seeking leverage to get a better deal for competing chips from Japanese producer Toshiba.

Before leaving MOS Technology in 1977, Mensch became their microprocessor design manager.

Mensch graduated with an associate degree (A.S.) from Temple University in 1966 where he was a member of Sigma Pi fraternity. He received his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in electrical engineering from the University of Arizona in Tucson in 1971. He has taught classes at Arizona State University, including courses on system on chip (SoC) integrated circuit (IC) design. Mensch is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 2004, he was inducted in the Computer Hall of Fame (hosted by the San Diego Computer Museum, part of the San Diego State University Library), and in 2005 was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the University of Arizona's College of Engineering.

William David Mensch, Jr. (born February 9, 1945) is an American electrical engineer born in Quakertown, Pennsylvania. He was a major contributor to the design of the Motorola 6800 8-bit microprocessor and was part of the team led by Chuck Peddle that created the MOS Technology 6502. He also designed the 16-bit successor to the 6502, the 65816.