As finance director of the W.D. Boyce Council of the Boy Scouts of America, Williams is responsible for the annual Friends of Scouting fundraising campaign throughout 14 counties in central Illinois. He plans all Council special events, leads the annual staff training conference and manages the Council’s marketing department, including this year’s 100th Anniversary campaign. He is a mentor to new employees and is constantly taking new executives under his wing, leading by example and coaching them to success.

In 2008, Williams was recognized as one of the top 50 Scouting professionals in the Central Region of the United States. He has served on numerous task forces representing Scouting professionals across the region, and despite the unstable economy, he led the W.D. Boyce Council to a 25-percent growth in fundraising through the annual Friends of Scouting appeal.

When Williams moved to Peoria five years ago, he started a new Latino outreach program called Soccer and Scouting, which quickly spread to all 14 counties served by the W.D. Boyce Council. Because of his efforts, more than 500 Latino Scouts and families have benefitted from Scouting. Over the past four years, Williams has also helped to ensure that over 100 underprivileged Scouts have learned to swim and become CPR-certified, and has taken groups to the Canadian wilderness for week-long adventure trips.

In his five years with the W.D. Boyce Council, Williams has been awarded the Oil Can Award three times and the Golden Eagle Feather Award twice. He is responsible for developing and leading a finance campaign for the W.D. Boyce Council that was recognized as a National Best Practice two years in a row and shared with 308 councils throughout the nation.

In addition to his work with the Scouts, Williams dedicates much of his time to the community as a member of Rotary International, the Young Professionals Organization of Greater Peoria and the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. He was a key leader in the formation of the Peoria Hispanics group, for which he currently serves as past president.

This Eagle Scout and Master Mason has already shown great leadership, both in his career and in the community at large. He continually strives to make Peoria a better place through his work with the Scouts, community litter cleanup, service projects and faith-based initiatives. iBi