Baltimore Mayor Catherine E. Pugh (D) has a new chief of staff to kick off the new year. Pugh announced Wednesday that Bruce H. Williams had started on the job on Jan. 1.
Williams, 67, is the mayor’s third chief of staff since she took office in December 2016.
Williams, who has worked at information technology and management companies, worked three years as a vice president at IBM. Williams also held executive positions at Allstar Consulting and Maden Technologies.
Since 2012, Williams has worked for his own business, BH Williams LLC, which provides management and executive coaching to small and midsize businesses.
In a statement, Pugh said Williams’ private management experience will help contribute to City Hall.
“We have an aggressive agenda for the coming year that will build on the progress we have made to reduce violent crime, invest in neighborhoods, provide pathways for our young people, and create a City where there is true opportunity for all, regardless of zip code,” Pugh said in the statement.
Williams holds a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, both from Howard University.
Last year, he was named a distinguished alumnus by the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC). During his undergraduate years, Williams was a starter on the Howard football team and was signed as a free agent by the Denver Broncos upon graduation, before heading into the corporate world. Williams remains chairman of Bison Express, the Howard University athletic booster organization.
Public records show that Williams lives in Ellicott City with his wife, Tresa. He has two sons.
The new chief of staff pick was originally made public last week in a Baltimore Brew report, which noted that an announcement was made at a holiday party for City Hall staffers.
The Brew report details the turnover within the highest ranks of city officials, including for the mayor’s chief of staff position, which had been held by Kimberly B. Morton before she resigned after a city audit detailed tens of thousands of dollars of questionable spending. Around the time of the audit in September, Morton was moved to a deputy director position in the city’s Department of Public Works.
Morton stepped into the role in June 2017, after Pugh’s first chief of staff, former acting Baltimore schools CEO Tisha Edwards, resigned to take a job in the private sector.
William F. Zorzi contributed to this report.
Danielle E. Gaines
Contributor
Danielle Gaines worked for Maryland Matters from September 2018 to January 2024. She covered government and politics for Maryland Matters for two years before moving into an editing position, ultimately serving as editor-in-chief for nearly three years. Previously, she spent six years at The Frederick News-Post ― as the paper’s principal government and politics reporter for half that time, covering courts and legal affairs before that. She also reported for the now-defunct The Gazette of Politics and Business in Maryland and previously worked as a county government and education reporter at The Merced Sun-Star in California’s Central Valley.
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