WILLIAM HSIEH was born in Beidou, Changhua, Taiwan in 1948. At five years old, his father died, and he was raised by his mother who was a two-times assemblyperson, four-times Taiwan provincial assemblyperson and member of Control Yuan (similar to Supreme Court judge and senator). William attended National Normal Taiwan University for his formal education. In 1980, William founded the Datong furniture company, and two years later he was elected chairman of the Taiwan furniture association, a position he held for six years. In 1988, Datong opened the largest furniture plant in Asia and sales jumped to $60M/year, becoming the most successful furniture company in Taiwan. After his mother passed away in 1984, William founded the Hsieh-Hsu-Ying culture and education charity foundation. In 1997, William closed all his businesses in Taiwan and traveled to the US to restart a furniture business at fifty years old and with $3 million in debt. He founded Lifestyle, which achieved an average 50 percent increase in sales from 1998 to 2007 with total revenues up to $300 million in 2007.