On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was sitting at a table on the 85th floor of the North Tower when American Airlines Flight #11 hit eight floors above me.

I walked down, one step at a time. I walked out, luckily. Then, I walked the length of Manhattan to get home.

That morning is why I speak. 25 years and more than 250 rooms later, I keep telling my story because the way people moved in that stairwell is how people get through a business running out of cash, a marriage ending, a career that just got taken away from them. Orderly. Deliberately. One floor at a time.

You get knocked down. You decide what you do next. It ain’t perfect. Nothing ever is.

What I speak about

Resilience is our response to adversity. It is a set of decisions you can learn to make faster. Every talk I give is built on that.

• The full 9/11 account. What I saw on the 85th floor, what I did in the stairwell, and the choices I still think about 25 years later.
• The first five minutes. How people behave under real pressure, and why the ones who move deliberately get out ahead of the ones who move fast.
• Getting knocked down more than once. September 11 was the first. Then I lost a business, two in fact, a bankruptcy, a divorce, a knee replacement surgery after four prior reconstructions. Coming back is a skill. It repeats.
• Clarity under pressure. For business audiences. How leaders decide well when the numbers are ugly and everybody in the room is scared.

Tell me who is in your room and what you want them to walk out with. I will build the talk to that.

Why I keep telling it

Three reasons, in order of honesty.

It helps me. Telling it has been part of how I have worked through that day for 25 years.

It teaches. People want to know what it was actually like inside the building, and what a person does when the ground stops being reliable.

And we are a species that runs on stories. There is a lot of noise around that day. I would rather people hear it from somebody who was standing in it.

Where I have spoken

• More than 250 engagements over 25 years; a portion of these are listed here.
• Corporate teams, corporate retreats, schools, churches, civic organizations, conference audiences
• Upcoming: keynote, Texas Society Daughters of the American Revolution Fall Forum, Austin, September 11, 2026

What people say

“Billy is an amazing speaker with an amazing story to tell. I highly recommend him as a speaker.” Bob Gebhard, August 13, 2025

“Mr. Forney spoke to the Houston Chapter of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI in September 2022. He provided a very vivid description of his escape from the 85th floor of the World Trade Center on 09/11/2001. His is a story of determination, survival, and humanity. Everyone in the audience was enthralled and felt they were walking with Mr. Forney on every step of his perilous journey. I was so impressed with Mr. Forney’s presentation that, in November 2023, I asked him to speak to my Sons of the American Revolution chapter, who were equally captivated by his story. Mr. Forney is an outstanding speaker who brings forth the sights and sounds of 9/11. More people need to hear his story, especially as we move further from that infamous day.” Michael Anderson, February 24, 2025

“Billy was asked to speak to our Rotary Club luncheon meeting. He was responsive as we were planning the event and his presentation drew everyone in. When I had a second chance to hear his presentation at a nearby club, I jumped at it and again was very impressed. As he spoke you could picture yourself walking through it — towers, the streets – – he’s a very good speaker.” Luanne Newman, May 15, 2025

“Billy did a great job with the presentation. It was very engaging. His demonstratives and the personal level of detail with respect to the encounters he had with others in their joint struggle to evacuate made you feel personally involved and had me truly cheering for their survival.

I highly recommend listening to his presentation if you have the opportunity to do so. I know I will now think of Billy and the people he described on an annual basis, having experienced 9-11 through his story on that terrible day for our nation. Finally, those of us who lived through it that day will have a new vision of what so many personally experience. And, for those who were not alive or too young to remember that day, Billy’s presentation is a must to experience! You will leave with a unique understanding, which not ascertainable from simply reading about and researching 9-11.” David Gregory, February 27, 2025

The Day Job

Off the stage, I run Forney Consulting Group, a Houston financial strategy practice. I am also developing a concept called The Founder’s Office along with Stathis Kafoglis, owner of Kafoglis Enterprises.

In short, I work as a fractional CFO for family-owned, founder-led service businesses doing $500K to $10M. Hospitality, home services, professional services, and oil-field services. Owners with proven demand but seeking financial clarity underneath it.

My job is to get to the truth of the cash, find the one or two things actually putting pressure on the business, and put simple structure around them so the owner can lead instead of react.

I came to it the long way. Studied economics and statistics at Rice University. Traded Coffee options on the floor of the New York Board of Trade. Risk analysis in oil and gas. VP of Finance at an oil and gas company. Wealth management in my early years. Then my own businesses, plus a hard education in what it costs when one goes sideways, let alone two.

That last part is why the resilience talk works on business audiences. I have sat in the hot seat.

The rest of it

This site started as a Houston weather blog years before I was speaking regularly, and I have kept it that way on purpose.

• Houston weather. I track this city’s weather history and still post about it here.
• Entrepreneur. Original founder of Palace Social (Houston), the rejuvenation of the old Palace Bowling Lanes on Bellaire Boulevard. I have not been involved in the project since 2024. Find me on LinkedIn
• Volunteer. Harris County Local Area County Coordinator for CoCoRaHS, a grass-roots citizen science group focused on the weather
• Native Houstonian. Born here. Plan to stay here.

Book Me

If you are planning an event, tell me the date, the room, and who is in it. I will tell you straight whether I am the right speaker for it.

Email: speaker@billyforneyspeaker.com

You can also read more of my 9/11 writing or dig into the weather blog from the menu above.