Ms. Williams is the CEO of The Williams Legacy Foundation. Ms. Williams is a recognized leader in the alternative investment industry having founded the Customized Fund Investment Group (CFIG) at The Prudential Insurance Company in 1999. CFIG was a market leader in providing customized investment solutions in private equity, real estate and infrastructure, and Ms. Williams and her team grew the business to $30 billion in assets managed on behalf of clients. The business was moved to DLJ in 2000 (subsequently acquired by Credit Suisse AG) and Ms. Williams served as its Managing Director and Group Head until 2014, when she led the sale of the business and remained as its President until June of 2015, and a Senior Advisor from 2015 to 2019. Prior to the founding of CFIG, she was an Executive Director with Prudential’s private equity group, where she specialized in product development. Prior to joining Prudential in 1993, Ms. Williams was an associate with Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy specializing in project finance.
Ms. Williams was appointed in 2015 to the Board of Directors of The Greenbrier Companies (GBX), where she chairs its Nominating and Governance Committee and is a Director of Grasshopper Bank, where she chairs its Finance Committee. She also serves on the Board of Trustees of The National Philanthropic Trust, one of the largest managers of donor-advised funds in the U.S., where she serves as vice-chair of its Nominating and Governance Committee.
Ms. Williams is the Chair of the Board of Commissioners of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, having previously chaired its Nominating Committee. She is also a member of the board of The Norton Museum where she serves on its Executive Committee. She is Vice Chair of the board of the Robert Toigo Foundation, and is the founding board chair of the Private Equity Women Investor Network. She also serves on the board of trustees of the NY School of Interior Design and The Olana Partnership.
Ms. Williams has received many awards throughout her career in the financial services industry and was named in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 as one of The Most Powerful Women in Finance by American Banker Magazine. She graduated magna cum laude from Union College in 1986 and received her Juris Doctor from New York University School of Law in 1989.