Harold M. Williams

Director

South Pasadena Office

 

Harold M. Williams is President Emeritus of the J. Paul Getty Trust, an arts- and humanities-devoted charitable trust. He was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Trust from May 1981 until January 1998. Under his leadership, six operating programs and a grant program--all dedicated to the arts and humanities--were established, and the Getty Center in Los Angeles was created. From 1998 to 2008 he was of counsel to Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, LLP.

Mr. Williams began his career as a tax and corporations attorney with a Los Angeles law firm, then joined Hunt Foods and Industries, Inc. as Associate Tax Counsel. He held a variety of positions within the firm, and after a number of acquisitions and consolidations, assumed the post of Chairman of the Board of Norton Simon, Inc. He was Dean and Professor of Management of the Anderson Graduate School of Management, University of California, Los Angeles from 1970 to 1977. In 1977, President Carter appointed Mr. Williams Chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, a position which he held for approximately four years.

Mr. Williams is a Phi Beta Graduate of UCLA, and received his law degree from the Harvard Law School. He serves on many charitable boards. His awards include a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from John Hopkins University, the UCLA Medal, the institution’s highest honor, an appointment by President Clinton as a member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities, and the designation by the French Government as an 'Officer dans L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'.