United Way
Speakers
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Angela F WilliamsPresident and CEO, United Way WorldwideAngela F Williams
Counsellor
President and CEO, United Way Worldwide
Before joining United Way Worldwide, Angela served as President and CEO of Easterseals, the nation’s leading nonprofit provider of disability services. She also held the roles of Executive Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Administration Officer at YMCA of the USA. Her public service career includes serving as a Federal prosecutor and military officer in the U.S. Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG) for over six years. She also served as a special counsel on criminal law for Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Senate Judiciary Committee staff, where she helped draft the Hate Crime bill. She also prosecuted cases for the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division's National Church Arson Task Force. Angela has been recognized among the NonProfit Times’ Power and Influence Top 50 in 2022, 2023, and 2024. She was included in Forbes' 2021 List of Women Over 50 Creating Social Change at Scale and received a 2021 CEO Today Healthcare Award. In December 2023, Inside Philanthropy named her one of "The 50 Most Powerful Women in U.S. Philanthropy." Angela serves on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Ethics Council, co-chaired by Sam Altman, CEO and Co-founder of OpenAI. The council advises on ethical issues related to artificial intelligence, focusing on human dignity, equity, inclusion, and its impact on underserved communities. Angela earned a Bachelor’s degree in American Government from the University of Virginia, a Juris Doctor from the University of Texas School of Law, and a Master of Divinity cum laude from the Samuel DeWitt Proctor School of Theology at Virginia Union University. She resides between Chicago and Metropolitan Washington, D.C., with her husband, the Reverend Roderick Williams. Angela is an ordained minister and a volunteer pastor at the Chicago Apostolic Center.