William Watkins
Director of Workforce Development, Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts (Boston)
William Watkins is the Director of Workforce Development for the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts. In his role, Mr. Watkins manages the Urban League's workforce development to ensure that staff, job seekers, and small businesses have the tools, training, and safety resources needed to be prepared for the opportunity to come. In the nine years with the Urban League, he has brought cutting-edge programming to Roxbury in coding, and graphic design for adults that drew the attention of BNY Mellon, Google, Verizon, Microsoft, and Comcast. He was instrumental in leading the efforts to assist the Commonwealth's Executive Office of Labor & Workforce Development in implementing the ACT WorkKeys National Career Readiness Certification system in all their career centers.Prior to joining the Urban League, he spent over ten years working in various roles in the city, state, and federal government. He worked for the great civil rights icon, the late Congressman John Conyers, in his Detroit Office handling constituent affairs. He received an Honorable Discharge from the United States Army National Guard and the Distinguish Service Award from the Department of Defense for his civilian work. He established City Year Detroit in 1999 and received the national recruitment award in the same year.William is actively involved with Central Mass Pop Warner Little Scholars serving as its vice president for the past five years, a Member of the Society of Human Resources Management, and ACT State Council - New England.William was born in Boston, MA, a product of public housing and public schools. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with minors in Public Administration and International Relations from Bethune-Cookman