Damon L. Williams, Jr., M.B.A., serves as the Associate Vice President and Chief of Staff for Institutional Diversity at the University of Kentucky. In this role, he is responsible for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility strategic planning and implementation for students, faculty, staff, alumni at the institution, across the Lexington community, and in The Commonwealth. Williams joined the University of Kentucky from Northwestern University, where he served as the inaugural Associate Dean of Diversity and Inclusion for Graduate Education and the Senior Diversity Officer in the Graduate School where he recruited the largest number of traditionally excluded students in the school’s history.
As a competent practitioner, Damon has worked in many roles supporting inclusivity for institutions and organizations including Emory University, Xavier University of Louisiana, Phillip Morris USA(Altria), and Verizon Wireless. He has a strong history of developing partnerships and pipelines which serve to recruit and retain underrepresented minoritized 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 Louisiana Alumni of the Year Award, and Northwestern University’s Penny Warren Service Award. Damon serves on several national boards including the National Conference for Race and Ethnicity (NCORE), Medical Moguls, Hill Harper’s “Making Your Destiny”, and the most recently named to Social Science Research Council. 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 Master’s in marketing from Tulane University, an MBA from Fontbonne University, and is a doctoral student studying Higher Education Policy. He holds additional certificates from Cornell University, and a senior fellow at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Damon most recently was invited to participate on a panel discussion at the White House on HBCU Conference in Washington, DC, and a recent fellow in the Academic Leadership Institute at Swarthmore College for aspiring college presidents of HBCUS.
