Board of Directors
Executive Director & Founder
Eddie Mae Williams
Executive Director and founder of Executive Support Network, Ms. Eddie Mae Williams has always been a passionate community advocate. Ms. Williams greatly prioritizes advocacy for families and children, her mission strengthened by being active in her church and community throughout her life. Unflaggingly devoted to her own family, Ms. Williams has been widowed after 39 years of marriage, and has two adult children, one adult granddaughter, and three great-grandsons.
Having attended California State University, Dominguez Hills, where she majored in Psychology with a minor in Behavioral Science, Ms. Williams is currently President and founder of the Executive Support Network. ESN has been hosting annual foundations roundtables for 20-plus years connecting heads of nonprofits with funders to build relationships towards an organically progressive acquisition of funding. The core foundation of ESN services also extends to capacity-building workshops, advocacy, and empowerment training for executive directors of new and small nonprofits in South Los Angeles, and the surrounding communities of Inglewood and Compton.
Past Events
In 2010 Ms. Williams retired from the nonprofit she founded in 2000 and decided to commit full-time to advocating and empowering families and children. Initially a member of Compton, Watts InterFaith Collaborative–in partnership with the Department of Children’s and Family Services in Compton and Los Angeles County in 2006– she became President of the Collaborative in 2007. Resigning in January 2012, Ms. Williams had begun hosting the Annual Dialogue Breakfast from 2012 to 2016. Packing her tenure with phenomenal productivity, Ms. Williams was able to bring together a diverse group of professional-nonprofit executives, clergy, Local businesses, Law Enforcement, Community activists, Healthcare professionals and Educators– in order to share and exchange information, resources and networking.
Ms. Williams took an active role in helping to re-establishing the Service Planning Area 6 in South Los Angeles and Compton. An active member of Service Planning Area 6 Executive Steering Committee and general membership meetings, she helped to ensure that Service Planning Area 6 activities were funded by L.A. County Supervisor of District 2 until 2008.
Ms. Williams was instrumental in planning and implementing two prodigious community wide events. In April 2008, with the help of a committee, Ms. Williams organized and implemented a Parent Leadership Symposium, its attendance totaling 130 parents and youth. In October 2008, she and committee members organized and implemented a Youth Summit totaling 125 youth and adults in attendance.
Ms. Williams has been a member of First Church of God Center of Hope, under the leadership of Senior Pastor Geremy Dixon for 15 years. She has served 9 years as director of Family Resource Connections, a ministry she developed and implemented to assist families in crisis by Connecting them with community-based organizations offering services and resources for families’ needs.
After such a poignant, continuously evolving role in her community, Ms. Williams has most recently established Executive Support Network as a 501 (c ) (3) nonprofit, operating as executive director and CEO since June 2020.