About Damon Lewis Williams
Damon Lewis Williams, Jr.has developed a significant track record of transformational contributions toward organizational equity, diversity, and inclusion goals with over 15 years of experience in diversity and inclusion, 10 years of experience in higher education and more than five years in corporate sector. His efforts revolve around inextricably binding organizational pursuits of excellence with diversity and inclusion efforts. His areas of practice include graduate diversity,recruitment/enrollment management,scholarship identification,minority male engagement,the role of diversity in the hiring process,and engaging affinity groups.In his current capacity as the Assistant Dean for Diversity & Inclusion at Northwestern University, Damon is responsible for diversity and inclusion strategic planning and implementation for faculty, post-doctoral trainees, and students.
Williams passion for education and equity started back in high school when he felt he nor his other underrepresented colleagues were not provided with the adequate information about scholarships, summer programs and exposure to elite institutions so he started he requested his own information and started advising his colleagues. Damon attended summer programs started attending pre-college programs starting in the seventh grade. Williams joined Northwestern from Emory University, where he served as the inaugural Director of Diversity, Community, and Recruitment in the James T. Laney Graduate School. As a competent practitioner, Damon has worked in many roles supporting inclusivity for institutions and organizations including Xavier University of Louisiana, Georgia State University Trio programs, Phillip Morris USA(Altria), and Verizon Wireless. He has a strong history of developing partnerships and pipelines which serve to recruit and retain underrepresented minority students in the workforce or graduate education.
His worked has garnered him recognition by Black Enterprise Magazine, Diverse Issues in Higher Education, Xavier University’s Top 40 under 40 Award, Northwestern University’s Penny Warren Service Award, and a Norman C. Francis Fellow. Damon serves on several national boards including the National Conference for Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), Medical Moguls, and Hill Harper’s “Making Your Destiny”, a non-profit targeted for at-risk youth and advisory board for One Hope, One United and the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). He is a member of the National Black MBA Association, National Urban League, National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE) and many other organizations.
Damon holds a B.S. in Psychology from Xavier University of Louisiana, a Masters in Marketing from Tulane University and an MBA from Fontbonne University. He holds additional certificates from Emory University and the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.