Jay Williams Email & Phone Number

Hartford, Ct, Us

Here, I am currently leading the transformation of Connecticut’s largest community foundation into a more relevant, impactful, and nimble organization, in its strategic pursuit to contribute to the dismantling of structural racism and increase equitable economic and social mobility across the Greater Hartford region. Build and maintain robust long-term partnerships with community leaders and stakeholders, delivering a 25% increase in grant investments and a demonstrable increase in authentic and reciprocal community engagement.• Executed a multi-channel marketing campaign, utilizing targeted messaging, digital advertising, and social media to raise awareness of the foundation's mission, resulting in a 40% increase in brand recognition and a 35% increase in donor engagement.• Established one of the most ambitious, industry-recognized, participatory grantmaking initiatives "Greater Together Community Funds" spanning 29 towns and bringing hundreds of residents into an inclusive grantmaking model.• Led listening tours that engaged 1,000+ stakeholders; formulated a data-informed, community-driven strategic plan to address historic inequities in key quality of life drivers.• Spearheaded diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiative to create an equitable culture at the foundation; implemented anti-racism policies, established a community equity fund, and increased investment in underrepresented communities.• Achieved a remarkable 110% increase in gifts for the foundation over four years, surpassing fundraising goals and demonstrating exceptional leadership and donor relationship skills.

Washington, Dc, Us

Leading the federal economic agenda in this role, I collaborated with local economic development officials to make investments, supporting long-term, sustainable, and globally competitive economic development strategy, defining roles of the federal government, private investors, and local stakeholders. I also orchestrated strategy development procedures to reposition a 50-year-old agency as a relevant and impactful leader of next-generation economic development, secured the EDA becoming the central integrator of more than $15B of federal economic development investment. I fostered trust with communities by sharing personal experiences of growing up in distressed regions.• Promoted innovation and entrepreneurship as key drivers of job creation in economically distressed regions by leading and directing the federal economic agenda; strategized and introduced healthy ecosystems and infrastructure for struggling communities.• Won the “Federal Best Places to Work” award for the most improved agency as rated by the annual employee viewpoint survey and set a trend of 20% year-over-year increase in employee satisfaction via agency-wide employee engagement initiative.• Successfully shepherded a proposal through Congress resulting in a 50% increase in funding for a key program as a catalyst for economic development and presented insightful data on the program’s positive impact on job creation and economic growth.• Planned and organized the agency's first national conference, which attracted 1,000+ stakeholders and practitioners from diverse backgrounds and industries by integrating marketing and communication strategies to drive attendance and maximize impact.

Washington, Dc, Us

In this position, I delivered strategic guidance to the President of the United States, in collaboration with the Director of the National Economic Council, on executive branch policy proposals impacting the automotive and manufacturing communities and their workforce. I fostered and promoted an environment of cross-functional teamwork, bringing together diverse perspectives, expertise, and resources to ensure consistency and achieve shared goals with greater efficiency and effectiveness in implementing initiatives.• Led the development of federal policies and programs to harmonize and optimize federal response to issues, directly impacting automotive and manufacturing communities and the workforce by facilitating collaboration between multiple stakeholders. • Directed the establishment of key performance indicators and metrics to measure the effectiveness and impact of federal initiatives.• Championed engagement with nonprofit organizations, business and labor associations, state and local government agencies, and other stakeholders to advance policy options for expanding and revitalizing automotive and manufacturing communities.

Washington, District Of Columbia, Us

In this role, I served as the principle liaison between the President of the United States and local elected officials. Led a team charged with facilitating productive relationships between the federal government and local governments through advocating, informing and shaping public policy impacting local communities.• Established a broad bi-partisan collation of Mayors and other local elected officials to advocate and execute initiatives related to: Infrastructure, Housing, Transportation, Workforce Development, Public Safety and the Environment.

Youngstown, Ohio, Us

In a historic election, I was elected as the first black, and youngest, Mayor in the history of the City of Youngstown. I secured long-term, multi-million-dollar funding commitments from private foundations to support transformative grass-roots community development organizations; Changed the narrative around a former “rustbelt” city by forming innovative and forward-thinking policies and initiatives to create an emerging, economically diverse, competitive municipality with championed strategic planning initiatives and economic growth.• Generated $2.0B+ in public and private investment during tenure utilizing strategic planning and relationship-building skills; spearheaded cost reductions of 15% within the city workforce while maintaining and improving the quality of city services.• Renegotiated the operating agreement and financial performance of the City’s Convocation Center by eliminating persistent operating losses and debt service deficit, maintaining annual revenue sufficient to cover all operating expenses and debt service, streamlining operations, and enhancing financial performance.• Successfully managed negotiations for Joint Economic Development District (JEDD); created over 400 jobs and $1B in private investment. Leveraged exceptional communication and interpersonal skills to build and sustain relations with key stakeholders.• Realized a comprehensive strategy to restructure and expedite the pace of neighborhood blight removal to revitalize the community, resulting in a significant multi-million-dollar infusion from the State of Ohio to expand the program further.• Earned multiple awards, including the City of Youngstown being named as one of the “Top Ten Cities to Start a Business” by Entrepreneur Magazine, the Ohio Economic Development Association Excellence Award for Best Project, and the American Planning Association National Planning Excellence Award for Public Outreach, demonstrating excellence in leadership and innovation.

Youngstown, Ohio, Us

Significant Accomplishments:One of the principle architects of city’s award winning comprehensive visioning and planning initiative “Youngstown 2010” which launched the far-reaching and ongoing transformation of an overly reliant industrially dominated region.Initiated a complete operational restructuring of the agency which resulted in a 50% increase in productivity, a 90% decrease in audit findings, and measurable improvement in employee and client satisfaction.

Detroit, Michigan, Us

Significant Accomplishments:Restructured the bank’s mortgage operations which resulted in a 30% increase in mortgage loan output and a 12% increase in profitability.Increased the bank’s investment in community development and affordable housing by 38%.

Cleveland, Oh, Us

Performed examinations and inspections of financial institutions to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, and produced a comprehensive report of findings. Conducted risk assessments and performed ongoing surveillance for a portfolio of institutions. Demonstrated balanced, well-reasoned judgment in decision making. Effectively communicated with senior management and directors of supervised institutions reflective of the intuition’s financial condition.Provided counsel on regulatory proposals, reviewed key financial reports and information from financial institutions and written communication to financial institutions. Served as Examiner in Charge (EIC) which required planning, coordinating, and monitoring supervisory activities.