Education 2024: LT. GEN. DARRELL K. WILLIAMS (U.S. ARMY, RET.)

Williams served more than 37 years in the U.S. military and in 2022 became president of Hampton University, a private, historically Black university founded in 1868 — and Williams’ alma mater.

A retired Army lieutenant general, Williams was the first Black director of the Department of Defense’s Defense Logistics Agency, where he oversaw nine supply chains supporting the military and more than 25,000 military and civilian employees. After his retirement from the military in 2020, he served as vice president for Leidos’ U.K. operations.

In addition to his bachelor’s degree from Hampton, Williams received master’s degrees from Pennsylvania State University, the Army Command and General Staff College, and the National War College. The recipient of a Bronze Star and the Legion of Merit, Williams also led the Fort Lee Army post and the Army Combined Arms Support Command.

Williams is the founding board chair for the Mary S. Peake Fellowship, which provides a one-year workforce leadership training program for recent college graduates, veterans and military spouses. A 19th-century Black educator, Peake taught slaves in Hampton to read, which was illegal in Virginia before the Civil War.