Search CCRI 
Presentation by Chief Justice Frank Williams
6 p.m. Monday, March 17, at the Knight Campus in Warwick
R.I.
Supreme Court Chief Justice Frank Williams will present “Abraham Lincoln
and Leadership” in the Bobby Hackett Theatre. The presentation, which
is free and open to the public, focuses on the life of Lincoln and how he
demonstrated the characteristics of a great leader.
Williams explains, “Great leadership requires the ability to stay the course even when you stand alone. Great leadership requires the commitment to preserving the welfare of your unit as you pursue your mission daily, especially when confronted with personal and professional obstacles. Great leadership requires hope, confidence, and unshakable moral and political courage.”
Williams is one of the country’s most renowned experts on Lincoln. He is the author of more than a dozen books, has contributed chapters to several others and has lectured on the subject throughout the country. He also has amassed an unsurpassed private library and archives that rank among the nation’s largest and finest Lincoln collections.
In 2000, Williams was appointed to the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission, which Congress created to plan events to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth in 2009. Since 1996, Williams has served as founding chairman of The Lincoln Forum, a national assembly of Lincoln and Civil War devotees. He served as president of the Abraham Lincoln Association for nine years and as president of The Lincoln Group of Boston for 14 years.
The chief justice has served on the R.I. Supreme Court since Feb. 26, 2001, previously working for 25 years as an attorney in private practice. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Boston University, his master’s degree in taxation from Bryant College and his Juris Doctor from the Boston University School of Law.
