William Thorsell, OOnt (born 6 July 1945 at Camrose, Alberta) is a Canadian journalist, former editor-in-chief of The Globe and Mail, and past director and chief executive officer of the Royal Ontario Museum. After his tenure at the ROM he became a distinguished senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. In 1975, Thorsell joined the Edmonton Journal's editorial board for approximately a year. After a brief term on The Globe and Mail's editorial board in Toronto, he returned to the Edmonton Journal in 1977 as an associate editor.