City Connect Detroit: Bio

Respected by her peers and regarded as a dynamic leader and community catalyst, Geneva J. Williams is effective in leading social change. At the helm of City Connect Detroit, as founding President and CEO, she is the driving force behind one of Detroit’s newest and most innovative nonprofits.

Under Geneva’s leadership, City Connect Detroit secured over $80 million dollars for metropolitan Detroit organizations to address lead poisoning prevention efforts, after-school programs, transportation, community/economic development initiatives, and other significant community issues. A strategic thinker, Williams’ ability to mobilize others has benefited hundreds of organizations across Southeastern Michigan and led to the formation of cross-sector collaboratives – City Connect Detroit’s pioneering approach to the problems that face metropolitan Detroit communities.

Prior to City Connect Detroit, Geneva Williams was co-founder and Executive Vice-President/Chief Operations Officer of United Way Community Services. During her 25+ years with United Way and United Community Services, she held a succession of leadership posts including the first African-American, and the first female, President and CEO of United Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit (UCS). Williams was a leading force for the merger of UCS and United Way to create a brand new organization to serving 5.1 million people residing in Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties of the state of Michigan.

Geneva has an extensive career history of executive management, strategic planning, fundraising, philanthropy, and grant making. Particularly strong has been her consistent approach to community problem solving through building outcome-driven cross-sector collaborations. Thoughtful action with everyone at the table to share in win-win solutions is her modus operandi. Her leadership has resulted in many successful cooperative efforts among diverse individuals and organizations to improve neighborhoods and communities in the southeastern Michigan region.

Growing up, Geneva’s parents were active and engaged in their Neptune, New Jersey community, teaching her social responsibility at a very young age. The political and social unrest that swept college campuses nationwide during her undergraduate years further fueled her interest in social activism and her burning desire to give back to the community.

Geneva graduated with her Bachelor of Arts in English and Speech from Morgan State University in Baltimore, going on to earn her Master of Social Science in Community Organization and Social Planning from Bryn Mawr University in Philadelphia. Geneva holds a Doctorate in Educational Leadership and Public Policy from Wayne State University.

Decades of experience in the public, private, and nonprofit sector have afforded Geneva extensive expertise in public policy, organizational development, social issues, and education. Her wealth of experience has resulted in a number of community leadership roles, as well as political appointments under Michigan’s past four governors and Detroit’s past three mayors. Honored by Crain’s Detroit Business as one of Detroit's 100 Most Influential Women, by the Michigan Chronicle as one of the Most Influential Black Women in Metropolitan Detroit, recognized as Detroit’s Best Community Leader by the Black Women Contracting Association and a recipient of the Horace L. Sheffield Bridge Builders Award, Geneva serves on the board of trustees for the Music Hall, New Detroit, Inc., the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation, First Independence Bank, and Detroit Public Television among others. She is a former member of the Detroit School Board, and the Western Michigan University Board of Trustees.

Tough, strong, diverse, and energetic, Geneva embodies those same qualities that she often uses to describe Detroit. Although not a native of the city, she now considers Detroit home. Her fervor, dedication, and commitment to this community are evident in the love she pours into her life’s work. Geneva is a mother of three, and lives with her husband Otha and family in Detroit. Balancing family and work, she still finds time to paint, improve her handicap on the golf course, and applies her same work ethic and tenacity in the boxing ring while working out.

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