Jonathan Williams

About Jonathan Williams

I am an innovative and collaborative change leader with a passion for improving the responsiveness and effectiveness of government. I particularly enjoy sharpening the mission focus, improving the systems, and recruiting and supporting talented leaders to build organizational capacity. It has not been a linear career by any means. As a teenager I set my sights on starting a legal career and a family, hoping eventually serve in Congress helping make decisions affecting the nation\'s security and economy. So I went to law school, served my community and profession, started a family, dabbled in politics and ran for Congress-and lost. Governor Jim Hunt picked me up in his administration while I considered what to do next. Within months I was helping the state respond to the devastating flooding of Hurricane Floyd, working with legislative and local leaders on criminal justice policy, and soon helping frame the new policy world of Homeland Security (in the Department of Crime Control & Public Safety, now called the Department of Public Safety). Over time I realized my passion is for making government more responsive and more effective for the public. Politics is just one feature of a world of policy choices, and success is always rooted in the quality of the people and the productiveness of a team of people working together. I rose through the political appointee ranks working for three governors in public safety and in commercial regulation, and returned to the justice system working for two North Carolina Chief Justices as Senior Deputy Director of the Administrative Office of the Courts. In 2017 I participated in a national search and was honored to be appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts to become the Trial Court Administrator for a five year term. My family remained in North Carolina and I traveled alternate weekends for over three years—until the pandemic struck. I worked from NC and gave notice to the Court in August 2020 that I would step down at year-end. In April 2021 I began a new chapter as general counsel to North Carolina’s Pandemic Recovery Office! We are working to address issues in the economy, education, housing and other fields to build a brighter future.

Experience

1. General Counsel to the Governor s Pandemic Recovery Office

   State of North Carolina

   Apr 2021 — Present

Education

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  BA, Political Science, Philosophy

  1981 — 1985

• University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

  JD, Law

  1987 — 1990