On May 9, 2012, he was elected president and chief executive officer of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, succeeding retired Navy admiral James O. Ellis Jr. Willard is a Los Angeles native.

He also holds a Master of Science degree in engineering management from Old Dominion University and was a fellow at MIT Seminar XXI.

He subsequently attended Navy Nuclear Power Training before rejoining Carl Vinson as Executive Officer.

As a flag officer, Willard has served on the Joint Staff as Deputy Director for Operations (Current Readiness and Capabilities); Commander.

[citation needed] In March 2010, a video in which Rep. Hank Johnson expressed his concern to Willard that the island of Guam might "capsize" and "tip over" due to overpopulation of military equipment and personnel went viral, garnering hundreds of thousands of views from thehill.com, hotair.com and latimes.com and was ultimately seen over three million times.