Billy is a lifelong entrepreneur, turned investor, who resides in San Antonio. A fourth generation Texan and Dallasite, following graduation from UT in 1981 he joined a family business, Chair King Furniture, bringing that retail concept to the San Antonio and Austin markets. In 1984, he co-founded Travis Telecom, initially the private telephone and cable operator in Dobie Center, and subsequently a long-distance telephone provider in the Austin, San Antonio and Midland-Odessa. In 1989, he co-founded Call Home America, the country’s largest provider of inbound 1-800 telephone services to parents of college students.

Since 1994, he has been a principal in Nueces Partners, a diversified investment partnership with interests in consumer products, energy service, technology, and telecommunications, as well as a substantial real estate portfolio. He’s been a licensed Texas real estate broker since 1986. He also leads a family ranching operation in Bexar and Medina Counties.

A longtime supporter of Entrepreneurial Education, he taught the first Entrepreneurship and Venture Creation course, as an upper division business elective, ever offered at Trinity University, from 1996-2008. Since 2018, he has served as the Investor-in-Residence at Trinity University, in support of both the University and its Entrepreneurship Department.

In 2023, Mr. Freed endowed the Freed Family Pitch Competition, formally DisrupTexas, through the Herb Kelleher Entrepreneurship Center (HKEC). He also serves on the advisory board for HKEC, a co-curricular student center within McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin.

He has served on numerous boards of private companies, bank and non-profit organizations. He is currently the Board Chair of the San Antonio Zoo, and recently completed a term as the Chair of the Texas Cavaliers Charitable Foundation.