Aaron S. Williams is an international development expert and a former diplomat. He served as the 18th Director of the Peace Corps from 2009 to 2012 under President Barack Obama. Williams grew up in Chicago where he graduated from Chicago State University and became a teacher. He volunteered for the Peace Corps for three years, working in the Dominican Republic to support teacher training projects. Afterwards, Williams served in the U.S. Agency for International Development (US AID) for 22 years. Before and after his term as Director of the Peace Corps, Williams worked for RTI International. Williams announced August 21, 2012 that he was leaving his post after three years, citing personal and family considerations in his letter of resignation to President Barack Obama. Early life and education Aaron Williams grew up in a family of modest means in South Side, Chicago. There, he attended Chicago State University, earning a bachelor's degree in Geography and Education. He later earned an MBA from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. Career Williams began his career as a high school teacher in Chicago. He decided to volunteer for the Peace Corps after hearing speeches by President Kennedy and Sargent Shriver, and then talking to a fellow teacher from the same alma mater that had volunteered in Jamaica. Williams supported the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic for three years. While there, he taught rural school teachers seeking high school diplomas, then worked with the Ministry of Education on developing educational curriculum. Williams also trained teachers for the country's first private university, Universidad Madre y Maestra. Then, Williams returned to the United States and served the Peace Corps as a Coordinator of Minority Recruitment. In 1978 Williams joined the U.S. Agency for International Development (US AID), where he worked for 22 years, as a foreign service officer. At USAID, Williams created partnerships with the private sector in Haiti and Costa Rica. He was promoted to Director of the Private Sector Office in the Latin America and the Caribbean Bureau. Then he was promoted to senior management positions, serving as the Mission Director for the Eastern Caribbean Region based in Barbados, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), Assistant Administrator for LAC, and as the head of the Executive Secretariat for USAID. He also attained the rank of career minister in the Senior Foreign Service. When Williams left USAID, his title was