Joyce Williams, associate vice chancellor of workforce and economic development, has been named one of Dallas' top 30 Women in Business.
Contact: Ann Hatch
For immediate release — June 5, 2018
(DALLAS) — Joyce Williams, associate vice chancellor of workforce and economic development for the Dallas County Community College District, is an administrator by day and a proponent for the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater Dallas after hours. As chair of BGCD’s board of directors and a leader in workforce development, Williams knows how to focus programs for both organizations which can bring jobs and build partnerships for Dallas.
Based on those efforts and her experience in the community and higher education, Williams has been named one of 30 top Women in Business by the Dallas Business Journal this year. The DCCCD administrator and other honorees will be recognized during a special awards luncheon on Thursday, Aug. 23, the day before the paper releases its special Women in Business print edition that Friday.
Williams and the other recipients represent a variety of industries and roles that are crucial to the Dallas-Fort Worth ecosystem, including financial and legal services, commercial real estate and construction and non-profit organizations, according to the Dallas Business Journal.
Winners range from “leaders of global institutions to entrepreneurs behind innovative startups. The 2018 class of Women in Business touches on a concentration of transformative ingenuity and enterprising imagination that can only be found in North Texas.”
“I am honored and humbled to be recognized as one of the 2018 Dallas Business Journal’s Women in Business awardees,” said Williams.
“While most people hesitate to view workforce education as a business industry, DCCCD’s employer stakeholders insist that we, as educators, are clear about the expectation for skill competencies which are required to perform workforce tasks, and we answer the call for a highly-skilled labor force.”
Williams added, “Our community stakeholders and taxpaying investors expect a return on investment in economic development, which supports and attracts new and emerging industries as well as new residents in that economy. My role at DCCCD has provided me with the opportunity to develop and implement strategies that have an impact on people’s lives and their work.”
“I can’t think of a more deserving recipient than Joyce Williams,” said Mark Hays, DCCCD’s vice chancellor for workforce and economic development. “She is committed to building the region by focusing on students, businesses and community. Her work has made Dallas a better place, and we are all better off because of her efforts and leadership.”
At DCCCD, Williams is responsible for initiatives involving workforce development, community development and business strategies — including efforts that empower women. She recently has been involved in Sales Force and Apple Coding educational programming for the district.
Inspired by Apple’s philosophy that coding can change the workforce, Williams has led efforts to offer credit, non-credit and summer coding programs for young girls and women, providing them with pre-college and college skills in STEM-related professions which typically are male-dominated fields.
Two recent DCCCD programs that Williams has been involved with include the Amazon Web Services Veterans Apprenticeship Program and the AWS Cloud Support Academy.
Williams, who is serving as BGCD’s first African-American board chair, empowers young people to live to their fullest potential through that organization. Building partnerships with business members and leaders to leverage resources enables BGCD to offer ongoing opportunities that help young people become productive, caring and responsible citizens.
In addition to her service with BGCD, Williams serves as vice chair of the Workforce Education Advisory Committee for the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, is a member of the board of directors for VisitDallas and the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce and has served as president of the Texas Association of Community College Educators.
Williams has published articles in “Community Colleges for International Development,” and she has presented for the League for Innovation in the Community College, National Council on Black American Affairs, National Association of Colleges for Teacher Education and others.
She also was recognized in 2014 as one of the Top 25 Women of Dallas by the Steele Society, one of the Dallas Business Journal’s Minority Business Leaders in 2015 and the 2016 Boys and Girls Club Outstanding Child Advocate Award.
For more information, contact Ann Hatch in the DCCCD office of public and governmental affairs at 214-378-1819 or
ahatch@dcccd.edu.
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