Hampton University President to serve as keynote speaker for Founder’s Convocation
Grambling, La. – October 25, 2023 – Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Darrell K. Williams, who serves as president of Hampton University, will be the keynote speaker for Founder’s Day Convocation as Grambling State University prepares to celebrate its annual 122nd Founder’s Celebration. The Convocation is set for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 1, inside the Frederick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.
The first event of the celebration will occur on Tuesday, October 31 at 8 a.m. with the annual laying of the wreath ceremony at the bust of founder Charles P. Adams at Lee Hall on Grambling State’s campus.
Williams, who hails from West Palm Beach, Florida brought to Hampton University nearly four decades of proven strategic leadership experience and a track record of successfully managing large, complex, domestic, international, academic, and executive sector organizations.
While a student at Hampton, Williams was Mister Freshman in 1979-80; a Student Leader from 1980–83; a three-year Reserve Officers’ Training Cadet (ROTC) scholarship cadet; a member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; and senior class president during the 1982-83 academic year.
Upon his graduation from Hampton and commissioning as a Distinguished Military Graduate into the U.S. Army in 1983, LTG Williams served throughout the Continental U.S., Europe, the Pacific, and the Middle East.
Notably, he deployed to Kosovo, Kuwait, and Iraq and led 22,000 military, civilian, and contractor personnel in support of the historic sustainment and drawdown of Afghanistan in 2014 and 2015.
From 2015 to 2017, Williams led the Army Combined Arms Support Command located on the Fort Lee, Virginia military installation. There, he managed the Army Logistics University and was responsible for the professional military education and training of thousands of Army logistics professionals. He also led the installation’s strategic engagements with the Richmond, Petersburg, Hopewell, and Colonial Heights, Virginia communities and assured the welfare and safety of over 25,000 students, staff, faculty, families, and residents.
In August 2020, Williams culminated his distinguished military career as director of the Department of Defense’s Logistics Agency (DLA), where he led a global workforce of over 26,000 professionals. Annually, the DLA provided more than $40 billion in global logistical support to all U.S. military services, designated international partners and 42 U.S. whole of government organizations and federal agencies.
Then in July 2022, Williams joined Hampton University after a stint at Leidos, a Fortune 250 information technology company where he served as vice president for Defense Group Logistics and subsequently as vice president and managing director of the $9 Billion global United Kingdom (U.K.) Ministry of Defense Logistics Commodities and Services Transformation (LCST) contract.
Williams’ professional affiliations include membership on the board of directors for the National Industries for the Blind; founding board chair, the Mary S. Peake Fellowship; life member, the Association of the U.S. Army; life member, R.O.C.K.S., Incorporated; board member, Council of Independent Colleges in Virginia (CICV); board member, Virginia Federation for Independent Colleges (VFIC); board of directors member, Hampton Roads Alliance; board member, RVA 757 Connects; and member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
Among numerous awards and honors, Williams is the recipient of the U.S. Defense Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal, U.S. Defense Superior Service Medal, and the U.S. Armed Forces Bronze Star Medal.
He is a member of the U.S. Army Cadet Command ROTC and the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Halls of Fame and a 2020 recipient of the Army Lieutenant General Arthur J. Gregg Sustainment Leadership Award. He is the recipient of the 2018 Hampton University Distinguished Alumni Award, and he was named a Journal of Black Innovation “2020 Fifty Most Important African Americans in Technology.”
Williams holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology from Hampton Institute (University); a Master of Science degree in business administration from Pennsylvania State University, State College; a Master of Military Arts and Science degree from the Army Combined and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; and a Master of Science degree in National Security Strategy from the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington D.C. as a distinguished graduate.