06-09-2024 HOF - Flipbook - Page 45
Baltimore Sun Media | Sunday, June 9, 2024
ARNOLD WILLIAMS
W
hile working as a legislative auditor early in his career,
Arnold Williams heard people around him in their 30s
already calculating their retirement pay. And that’s when
he realized: He had to get out of there.
“I couldn’t see being satisfied that … the only thing my
life held, was to be there for 35 more years,” Williams said.
“I’m not saying that’s a bad career. It just said to me that
I would be limiting me if I didn’t explore the more.”
That epiphany led Williams, 73, to a career in public accounting over 40 years ago. The shift
helped launch him as a leader and role model in Baltimore’s business community, particularly
for other Black men looking to work in accounting and finance.
Williams is a co-founder and managing director of Abrams, Foster, Nole & Williams, P.A.,
which describes itself as “a minority-owned certified public accounting firm that was founded
in 1983 to provide growth and development opportunities for African Americans in the
accounting industry.”
The four founders banded together to start the firm after the National Association of Black
Accountants hosted a convention in Baltimore, Williams said. They started imagining what
type of accounting firm was needed for the city’s African American community, as Black businesses also needed trusted advisers. They decided that was the role they would play, though
Williams emphasized their firm employs trusted accountants that help the entire local economy.
At the time the business opened, firms were mostly dominated by white men, Williams said.
Today, about 2% of certified public accountants are Black, though there have been initiatives
over the years to draw in more people of color and
women, Williams said. But he added that firms like
Name: Arnold Williams
his are still needed.
Age: 73
Hometown: Baltimore
“I would just say that for our community to thrive,
Current residence: Kingsville
it really takes more diverse business owners. And the
Education: Baltimore City College,
Baltimore City Community
reason is, we tend to be more deliberate with investing
College, University of Baltimore
in our employees, our staff, knowing that it takes that
Career highlights: Founding
to grow a community,” Williams said. “It is important
partner and managing director at
Abrams, Foster, Nole & Williams
to transfer our learning and encourage more people of
Civic and charitable activities:
color
to be business owners [and] employers as we help
Former chair and current board
member of the Baltimore
build the Maryland economy.”
Development Corporation;
Beyond the walls of his firm, Williams has served
chairman of the Neighborhood
in several key community positions, including over 25
Impact Investment Fund; chairman
of the Maryland Health and Higher
years — with 16 as chairman — on the board of directors
Educational Facilities Authority
for the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC), the
Family: Married to Virgie Williams;
one daughter
city’s economic development arm.
Williams was originally appointed as chairman by former Baltimore
Mayor Kurt Schmoke, who
said Williams provided
“outstanding leadership”
evidenced by the fact that
subsequent mayors chose to
retain him in that role rather
than selecting their own
appointees.
Schmoke said the BDC had
faced criticism for focusing
too much on downtown revitalization, but the appointment of Williams “sent the
right signal that there was
going to be a good balance
of economic development in
the central business district
as well as in the neighborhoods.”
Schmoke, president of the
University of Baltimore, is
also the chair of the Baltimore City Community
College board of trustees.
Williams, who grew up in
East Baltimore, graduated
from the community college
in 1970, which Schmoke said
is a “real inspiration” for
current students.
“[He] helped to raise the
profile of African American
businessmen in the community,” Schmoke said, adding
that Williams encouraged
more partnerships between
white and Black residents
in business, which “really
resounded to the benefit of
our community.”
Colin Tarbert, president
and CEO of the BDC, has
worked with Williams for
about 20 years.
Tarbert said Williams has
“long been dedicated” to the
BDC and driving economic
growth in Baltimore. He
said those at the BDC call
Williams their “sage” as he’s
been instrumental in lead-
ing the organization through
changes and challenges with
a steady hand.
Williams is one to “listen
and then lead,” Tarbert said.
“One of the things people
say about Arnold is he’s
somewhat slow in speaking
but he’s very deliberate in
the words that he chooses,”
Tarbert said. “He’s really
thoughtful about what he
says and when he says it and
how he says it in order to be
effective.”
And Williams has always
drilled down on inclusion,
Tarbert said, ensuring the
BDC is considerate in all of
its decisions and who benefits from them. For example, Williams established
as a standing board agenda
item that members review
the organizations’ equity
and inclusion initiatives to
ensure those goals don’t
just get announced on social
media and then forgotten.
In Williams’ office in the
Village of Cross Keys, there
are framed photos of him
meeting with former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack
Obama in a sea of certificates,
awards and photos plastered on the walls that celebrate the over four decades
Williams has dedicated
to Abrams, Foster, Nole &
Williams.
He’s one of two founders who have yet to retire.
Williams said while he
knows that step will come,
he’s taking it one day at a
time.
“I don’t think retirement
means ‘Stop doing good,’ ”
Williams said. “It just means
you don’t have to do it at the
same pace.”
— Maya Lora
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