William A. Osborn (born 1947) is an American bank executive.
William A. Osborn graduated from Northwestern University as an undergraduate in 1969, and from the NU Graduate School of Management in 1973.[1] He joined Northern Trust in 1970, and spent the rest of his career at the Chicago, Illinois institution. Eventually he headed the commercial banking and personal financial Services business units, and became president and chief operating officer in December 1993. He was Chairman and CEO of Northern Trust Corporation multibank holding company and the Northern Trust Company bank from 1995 through 2007.[2] Other directorships include Caterpillar Inc., Nicor Inc. and the Tribune Company. Osborn has been a director of Caterpillar since 2000. Osborn was appointed to the board of General Dynamics (military weapons maker).[3] As of 2011[update] he was chairman of the board of trustees of Northwestern University.[4] He replaced Patrick G. Ryan as chair in 2009.[1]