PRESS RELEASES

Matthew Williams Named Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives for UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Data Science and Society

Matthew Williams has joined the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as the inaugural Executive Director for Strategic Initiatives for the School of Data Science and Society. Matthew will be responsible for managing strategic university and industry partnerships while securing transformational philanthropic support to advance the School’s unique, collaborative initiatives aimed at advancing the public good by revolutionizing the impact of data through application.

Prior to joining Carolina, Matthew was the Director of Development at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, where he managed and implemented major gift strategies to increase philanthropic support for the school’s priorities in the multibillion-dollar Emory 2036 campaign. In addition to his development role, he was an active member of the Advancement and Alumni Engagement Divisional Committee on Community and Diversity. Before his time at Emory, Matthew held roles at his alma mater, North Carolina State University. He began by overseeing all the university’s affinity-based alumni groups as the Coordinator and then Assistant Director of Constituency Engagement for the NC State Alumni Association. He later moved to secure major gifts as the Associate Director of Development for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences in NC State’s multibillion-dollar Think & Do the Extraordinary Campaign.

Matthew is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, African American Development Officers Network, Urban League of Greater Atlanta – Young Professionals, and served on the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) – District III Conference Engagement Committee. A North Carolina native, Matthew grew up in Cary, NC, and earned a B.A. in Political Science from NC State University. Currently residing in Atlanta, he is excited to make the move back home to Raleigh.