Stephen L. Williams serves as the Director for the Houston Health Department (HHD), a full service public health department with 1300+ employees serving the 2.3 million residents of Houston while also overseeing a $166 million budget.  He is actively involved in Public Health issues at the local, state and national levels.  Under Mr. Williams’ leadership, HHD has become more visible and the citizens of Houston have been afforded a better quality of life. He has spear-headed the implementation and institution of several programs in HHD such as See to Succeed, Assessment, Intervention and Mobilization (AIM), Project Saving Smiles and pioneered the Affordable Care Act outreach and enrollment efforts through the Enroll Gulf Coast collaborative.

Mr. Williams received his Masters in Public Administration from Baruch College, City University New York, Masters of Education from the Auburn University and a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology/Social Work from Huntingdon College. He is an Adjunct Professor with UT School of Public Health. He is an Alumnus of the American Leadership Forum, Houston/Gulf Coast Chapter/Medical Community Class, and is a graduate of the National Urban Fellowship Program and Executive Leadership Institute sponsored by the National Forum for Black Public Administrators.

Mr. Williams currently serves on the COVID-19 Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel (EVAP to develop vaccine allocation strategies as recommendation to the state of Texas and chairs the Texas Department of State Health Services Public Health Funding and Policy Committee (Senate Bill 969). Mr. Williams actively serves on a number of professional committees.

He is a member of the National Association of City and County Health Officials (NACCHO), Texas Association of City and County Health Officials (TACCHO), American Public Health Association (APHA), Rotary Club of Houston and the National Forum for Black Public Administrators (NFBPA).

Prior to serving as the Health Director in Houston, Mr. Williams also served as Administrator of Public Health and Deputy Director of Austin/Travis County Health and Human Services Department and Executive Manager, Travis County Health Human Services and Veterans Services.