Mission Director to South Africa. In 2000, Williams left USAID to become Executive Vice President at the International Youth Foundation (IYF), a transnational nonprofit that focuses on leveraging corporate donations to assist young people in the developing world. In December 2003, partly to reduce his heavy travel load, William left IYF to become a vice president for International Business Development with RTI International, a nonprofit research corporation that depends on USAID contracts for about one-third of its revenues. Williams then worked for RTI International as Vice President of International Business Development from 2003 to 2009. In July 2009, President Barack Obama nominated Williams, a career international development specialist, to serve as the new director of the Peace Corps. The nomination was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on August 7, 2009. On August 25, 2009, Mr. Williams was sworn in as the eighteenth Director of the Peace Corps. Williams is the fourth director in the Peace Corps’ history to have served as a Peace Corps Volunteer. At the time there was a problem with Peace Corps volunteers being sexually assaulted abroad. Williams testified to a congressional panel that the Peace Corps had not done enough to protect its volunteers and he would make it a priority to change that. Williams worked with Congress to institute reforms, such as heightened security, training and support for victims. As the Peace Corps Director, Williams re-opened Peace Corps programs in Colombia, Sierra, and Indonesia. Additionally, under his tenure the Peace Corps expanded its operations into Tunisia and Nepal. Peace Corps also expanded and created new programs in Africa, through partnerships with the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the President's Malaria Initiative and the Feed the Future Initiative. Williams resigned from the Peace Corps effective September 17, 2012 and returned to RTI International in the position of executive vice president of the international development group. In 2018, Williams was awarded emeritus status by RTI International for his career in public service. Personal life Williams is fluent in Spanish. He met his wife, Rosa, during his service as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic; they have two sons. References External links An interview with Julian Bond. Living people Peace Corps volunteers Peace Corps directors Chicago State University alumni Wisconsin School of Business alumni Year of birth missing (living people) United States Foreign Service personnel