Tony Williams, the former Mayor of Washington, D.C. (1999 – 2007), is the current Chief Executive Officer of the Federal City Council, an organization which serves as a catalyst for progress in the Nation’s Capital by focusing the creative and administrative talents of Washington’s business and professional leaders on major problems and opportunities that are facing the City. Prior to this he served as the Executive Director of the Global Government Practice at the Corporate Executive Board in Arlington, Virginia. He also serves as the William H. Bloomberg Lecturer in Public Management at the Harvard Kennedy School. In addition, he is a Senior Consultant to the firm McKenna Long and Aldridge, with particular emphasis on its municipal restructuring practice.
During his two terms as Mayor, he is widely credited with leading the comeback of Washington D.C., restoring the finances of our nation’s capital, and improving the performance of government agencies, all while lowering taxes and investing in infrastructure and human services. Before his election as Mayor, he was the independent Chief Financial Officer of the District from 1995 to 1998, working with and on behalf of local officials, the D.C. Financial Control Board, and the U.S. Congress.
Before his service in local Washington, Tony worked in a variety of positions in federal, state, and local government, including as the first CFO for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. In addition to his work on company boards, Tony devotes his attention to issues of education and the environment, serving on the board of Fight for Children and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. He holds a BA from Yale and an MPP from the Kennedy School and a J.D. from the Harvard Law School, as well as a number of awards and honorary degrees, including Governing Magazine Public Official of the Year in 1997. He is a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration and former President of the National League of Cities.
Williams holds a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School, a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College. He served in the U.S. Air Force from 1971 to 1974. The former Mayor serves on the board of directors of a number of charitable organizations, including Catholic University, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Fight for Children, the Newseum, the National Geographic Education Foundation, and the Urban Institute.
