Maggie Williams
Encyclopedia
Margaret "Maggie" Ann Williams (born December 25, 1954 in Kansas City, Missouri
) is a partner in Griffin Williams, a management-consulting firm. She was the campaign manager
for Hillary Rodham Clinton
's 2008 presidential campaign. Following Clinton's win in the New Hampshire primary
in January 2008, Williams was brought onto the Clinton campaign staff as a senior adviser. On February 10, 2008, she replaced Patti Solis Doyle
as the campaign's manager.
in Kansas City
, Missouri
. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Trinity College, Washington DC
in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2009. Williams also received a masters from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
in 1990.
in 1979, manager of the Press office of the D.N.C. convention in 1980, campaign press secretary for Representative Robert G. Torricelli
, Democrat of New Jersey in 1982, director of media relations for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in 1983, a member of the convention staff of the D.N.C. in 1984 and communications director for the Children's Defense Fund
, 1984-1990.
. She served as Clinton's transition director in 1992 and as her chief of staff
during her first term as First Lady of the United States
(1993–1997), the first African American woman to hold that position and the first Chief of Staff to the First Lady who also served as an Assistant to the President. As stated in Taylor Branch
's The Clinton Tapes, in 1994, President Clinton turned to Williams "to compile confidential suggestions" on personnel shifts...According to Branch, "When I asked how unusual it was for the first lady's office to be involved, he replied there was no easy blueprint for reorganizing the organizers. Williams was shrewd, discreet, and efficient."
In a profile in Essence Magazine Ana Perez, who during George Bush's administration was the first Black person to serve as a press secretary to a First Lady said of Williams: "I am in awe of her...I have so much respect for her because she has this absolutely calm center and because she is a good and decent person. She's a do-gooder in every sense of the word." She has been described as having "very good judgment on issues and people" by Leon Panetta.
. In this position, she became the highest ranked black woman in an American top-50 public relations firm. Previously, Williams served as a communications consultant in Paris.
President Clinton asked Williams to be his chief of staff at the Clinton Foundation
. She worked with President Clinton to develop his post-presidency agenda and launched the foundation's programming and policy efforts. She worked to ensure collaborative process between former Clinton Administration staff and the Clinton Library’s design and museum firm to insure a robust policy focus throughout the structure.
for Hillary Rodham Clinton
's 2008 presidential campaign after being brought on as a senior adviser following Clinton's win in the New Hampshire primary
in January 2008. On February 10, 2008, she replaced Patti Solis Doyle
as the campaign's manager. and infused Clinton's campaign "with a sense of purpose" according to staffers. In their book, The Battle for America: The Story of an Extraordinary Election, Haynes Johnson
and Dan Balz
wrote that with Williams in charge the campaign was more collegial and operated with greater efficiency.
(CHAI). She is a trustee of the Rhode Island School of Design
and a US Commissioner for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
. From 2000 to 2007, Williams also served as director at Delta Financial Corporation
, a mortgage lender that filed for bankruptcy in December 2007. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Eli J. Segal Citizenship Program at Brandeis University and the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
) is a partner in Griffin Williams, a management-consulting firm. She was the campaign manager
Campaign manager
A campaign manager is a paid or volunteer individual, whose role is to coordinate the campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote , and other activities supporting the effort, directly.Apart from the candidate, they are often a campaign's most visible leader...
for Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
's 2008 presidential campaign. Following Clinton's win in the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire Democratic primary, 2008
The 2008 New Hampshire Democratic primary on January 8, 2008 was the first primary in the United States in 2008. Its purpose was to determine the number of delegates from New Hampshire that would represent a certain candidate at the National Convention. In a primary, members of a political party—in...
in January 2008, Williams was brought onto the Clinton campaign staff as a senior adviser. On February 10, 2008, she replaced Patti Solis Doyle
Patti Solis Doyle
Patti Solis Doyle is an American political operative and was in 2008 a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, where she was the campaign chief of staff to Joe Biden, Obama's vice presidential choice....
as the campaign's manager.
Early life and education
Williams attended high school at Notre Dame de SionNotre Dame de Sion
Notre Dame de Sion School of Kansas City was founded by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Sion in Kansas City, Missouri in 1912 as a Catholic school, albeit one which accepts and welcomes students of other faiths as well. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Kansas City-Saint...
in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. She received her B.A. in Political Science from Trinity College, Washington DC
Trinity Washington University
Trinity Washington University, founded in 1897 by the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, is a Roman Catholic university located in Washington, D.C. across from Catholic University of America and the Dominican House of Studies...
in 1977 and an honorary doctorate in 2009. Williams also received a masters from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania
The Annenberg School for Communication is the communications school at the University of Pennsylvania. The school was established in 1958 by Wharton School's alum Walter Annenberg as "The Annenberg School of Communications." The name was changed to its current title in the late 1980's.Walter...
in 1990.
Early career
Williams was an aide to Representative Morris K. Udall, Democrat of Arizona from 1977–78, Press Secretary for the Democratic National CommitteeDemocratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
in 1979, manager of the Press office of the D.N.C. convention in 1980, campaign press secretary for Representative Robert G. Torricelli
Robert Torricelli
Robert Guy Torricelli , nicknamed "the Torch," is an American politician from the U.S. state of New Jersey. Torricelli, a Democrat, served 14 years in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the U.S. Senate...
, Democrat of New Jersey in 1982, director of media relations for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in 1983, a member of the convention staff of the D.N.C. in 1984 and communications director for the Children's Defense Fund
Children's Defense Fund
The Children's Defense Fund is an American child advocacy and research group, founded in 1973 by Marian Wright Edelman. Its motto Leave No Child Behind reflects its mission to advocate on behalf of children...
, 1984-1990.
White House Years
While at the Children's Defense Fund she met, and became friends with then First Lady of Arkansas Hillary Rodham ClintonHillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
. She served as Clinton's transition director in 1992 and as her chief of staff
Chief of Staff
The title, chief of staff, identifies the leader of a complex organization, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a Principal Staff Officer , who is the coordinator of the supporting staff or a primary aide to an important individual, such as a president.In general, a chief of...
during her first term as First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States
First Lady of the United States is the title of the hostess of the White House. Because this position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, the title is most often applied to the wife of a sitting president. The current first lady is Michelle Obama.-Current:The...
(1993–1997), the first African American woman to hold that position and the first Chief of Staff to the First Lady who also served as an Assistant to the President. As stated in Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch
Taylor Branch is an American author and historian best known for his award-winning trilogy of books chronicling the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and some of the history of the American civil rights movement...
's The Clinton Tapes, in 1994, President Clinton turned to Williams "to compile confidential suggestions" on personnel shifts...According to Branch, "When I asked how unusual it was for the first lady's office to be involved, he replied there was no easy blueprint for reorganizing the organizers. Williams was shrewd, discreet, and efficient."
In a profile in Essence Magazine Ana Perez, who during George Bush's administration was the first Black person to serve as a press secretary to a First Lady said of Williams: "I am in awe of her...I have so much respect for her because she has this absolutely calm center and because she is a good and decent person. She's a do-gooder in every sense of the word." She has been described as having "very good judgment on issues and people" by Leon Panetta.
Post White House
After leaving the White House, Williams served as the President of Fenton CommunicationsFenton Communications
Fenton is a public interest communications firm based in the United States. Founded by David Fenton in 1982, the firm’s client list includes organizations associated with a diverse array of social issues. -Overview:...
. In this position, she became the highest ranked black woman in an American top-50 public relations firm. Previously, Williams served as a communications consultant in Paris.
President Clinton asked Williams to be his chief of staff at the Clinton Foundation
Clinton Foundation
The William J. Clinton Foundation is a foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." The Foundation focuses on four critical areas:...
. She worked with President Clinton to develop his post-presidency agenda and launched the foundation's programming and policy efforts. She worked to ensure collaborative process between former Clinton Administration staff and the Clinton Library’s design and museum firm to insure a robust policy focus throughout the structure.
2008 Presidential Campaign
Williams became the campaign managerCampaign manager
A campaign manager is a paid or volunteer individual, whose role is to coordinate the campaign's operations such as fundraising, advertising, polling, getting out the vote , and other activities supporting the effort, directly.Apart from the candidate, they are often a campaign's most visible leader...
for Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is the 67th United States Secretary of State, serving in the administration of President Barack Obama. She was a United States Senator for New York from 2001 to 2009. As the wife of the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton, she was the First Lady of the...
's 2008 presidential campaign after being brought on as a senior adviser following Clinton's win in the New Hampshire primary
New Hampshire Democratic primary, 2008
The 2008 New Hampshire Democratic primary on January 8, 2008 was the first primary in the United States in 2008. Its purpose was to determine the number of delegates from New Hampshire that would represent a certain candidate at the National Convention. In a primary, members of a political party—in...
in January 2008. On February 10, 2008, she replaced Patti Solis Doyle
Patti Solis Doyle
Patti Solis Doyle is an American political operative and was in 2008 a senior adviser to the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, where she was the campaign chief of staff to Joe Biden, Obama's vice presidential choice....
as the campaign's manager. and infused Clinton's campaign "with a sense of purpose" according to staffers. In their book, The Battle for America: The Story of an Extraordinary Election, Haynes Johnson
Haynes Johnson
Haynes Bonner Johnson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, best-selling author, and TV analyst. He has reported on most of the major news stories of the last half-century and is widely regarded as one of the nation's top political commentators.He began his newspaper career in 1956 as a reporter...
and Dan Balz
Dan Balz
Daniel J. Balz is a journalist at The Washington Post, where he has been a political correspondent since 1978. Balz has served as National Editor, Political Editor, White House correspondent and as the Washington Post’s Texas-based Southwest correspondent. Balz sometimes appears on the news show...
wrote that with Williams in charge the campaign was more collegial and operated with greater efficiency.
Boards and Affiliations
In addition to her consulting business, Williams is a director of the Scholastic Publishing Corporation, the Clinton Health Access InitiativeClinton Foundation
The William J. Clinton Foundation is a foundation established by former President of the United States Bill Clinton with the stated mission to "strengthen the capacity of people throughout the world to meet the challenges of global interdependence." The Foundation focuses on four critical areas:...
(CHAI). She is a trustee of the Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design is a fine arts and design college located in Providence, Rhode Island. It was founded in 1877. Located at the base of College Hill, the RISD campus is contiguous with the Brown University campus. The two institutions share social, academic, and community resources and...
and a US Commissioner for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
. From 2000 to 2007, Williams also served as director at Delta Financial Corporation
Delta Financial Corporation
Delta Financial Corporation was a specialty consumer finance company that originated, securitized and sold non-conforming mortgage loans. DFC was incorporated in 1996 as a Delaware corporation...
, a mortgage lender that filed for bankruptcy in December 2007. She serves on the Advisory Boards of the Eli J. Segal Citizenship Program at Brandeis University and the Institute of Politics (IOP) at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
External links
- Kuskowski, Joe. Black Biography: Maggie Williams Answers.com