About

DR. DAMON A. WILLIAMS, CHIEF CATALYST

The Academy experience is led by award-winning leader, scholar and educator Dr. Damon A. Williams.

Dr. Williams leads the National Inclusive Excellence tour.

He is currently chief catalyst of the Center for Strategic Diversity Leadership and Social Innovation in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as a senior scholar and innovation fellow with the Wisconsin Equity and Inclusion (Wei) Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Dr. Williams is also an inaugural distinguished scholar in residence with the National Black MBA Association, in Atlanta, Georgia, where he provides thought leadership and research products for their more than 500 corporate partners and national affiliate chapters.

Dr. Damon A. WilliamsInclusive Excellence TourLeadership Manifesto

GENERATIONAL SCHOLAR

Dr. Damon A. Williams is the author of the best selling Strategic Diversity Leadership: Activating Change and Transformation in Higher Education and co-author with Dr. Katrina C. Wade-Golden of The Chief Diversity Officer: Strategy Structure and Change Management.

Dr. Williams is one of the founding architects of the Inclusive Excellence Movement in American higher education, serving as lead author of Towards a Model of Inclusive Excellence and Change in Post-Secondary Institutions.

GAME-CHANGING EXECUTIVE

Dr. Williams served as Senior Vice President and Chief Education Officer at the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, where he shaped the learning experience of nearly four million diverse youth and teens globally, and led training and professional development for more than 54,000 professional staff working in local clubs.

He was the founding Vice Provost, Associate Vice Chancellor, and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, building the Division of Diversity, Equity and Educational Achievement (DDEEA), the third-largest vertically integrated CDO division in the country.

TRAILBLAZING CHANGE AGENT

Dr. Williams has served on the faculty of the American Council of Education (ACE) Fellows Program and the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) Greater Expectations Leadership Institute.

Dr. Williams has worked with more than 1,000 organizations as an invited keynote speaker, strategist and funded social impact leader. He is experienced with corporations, government entities and nonprofits, as well as colleges and universities.  His research is in use at small liberal arts institutions, catholic universities, private institutions, research universities, HBCUs, Hispanic Serving Institutions, community colleges, and public state systems of higher education.

As the University of Michigan celebrated its 200-year anniversary, Dr. Williams was awarded the Bicentennial Leadership Award, a one-time honor given to 20 trailblazing alumni who exemplify the best of the academic and leadership values of the university’s 200,000 living alumni.

He is also the 2017 recipient of the Western Reserve Academy’s Waring Prize, the highest alumni award presented by the prestigious boarding school, founded in 1826, to recognize exceptional leadership achievements to improve the human condition.

In 2013, Dr. Williams was awarded the coveted Inclusive Excellence Award of Leadership from the National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE), and a leadership commendation from the 14 research universities comprising what is now known as the Big-Ten Academic Alliance (BTAA), for his landmark contributions to diversity, equity and inclusion strategy globally.