Sandra R. Williams has built her career at the intersection of policy, capital, and community an intersection that is increasingly central to corporate value creation. Over 25 years she has moved fluidly between legislative chambers, C-suite corridors, and boardrooms, mastering the levers that shape market access, regulatory risk, and stakeholder trust.
Private-Sector Impact
- Since 2022 Williams has served as Director of State Government Affairs for Charter Communications (Spectrum), the second largest broadband provider in the United States. Reporting to the regional president, she leads Spectrum’s public-policy agenda across Northeast Ohio one of the company’s most competitive geographies advancing legislation, permitting, and grant strategies that support 2 million customers and more than 5,000 employees. Her portfolio covers: Regulatory & Funding Strategy – Aligning Charter with state infrastructure programs and state broadband-deployment grants, unlocking new revenue while ensuring ROI discipline.
- Risk Radar – Advising senior leadership on political, economic, and ESG headwinds; translating complex policy signals into actionable business risk registers.
- Stakeholder Diplomacy – Managing relationships with governors’ offices, public-utility commissions, and community coalitions to safeguard brand reputation and accelerate market entry.
- This operating exposure gives Williams the day-to-day P&L literacy, data-driven decision mindset, and cross-functional collaboration style demanded of modern corporate directors.
Public-Sector Governance
Before joining Charter, Williams spent 22 years in the Ohio General Assembly, first in the House of Representatives and later as State Senator for District 21. Key leadership assignments included:
- Vice-Chair, Utilities Committee (House & Senate) – Oversight of electric-generation, transmission-siting, and broadband-deployment statutes.
- Vice-Chair, Finance Committee & Subcommittee on Capital Appropriations – Stewardship of Ohio’s $75 billion biennial budget; evaluation of economic-development tax incentives and bond issuances.
- Member, Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR) – Regulatory scrubbing authority over 500+ state agencies.
Her legislative track record produced tangible economic value:
- Secured >$500 million for hazardous brownfield clean-ups to catalyze industrial redevelopment;
- Mandated minority-contractor participation thresholds in state construction, expanding supplier diversity;
- Championed graduation-rate reforms that lifted Cleveland Metropolitan School District from 40 % to 80 % over ten years.
These outcomes illustrate the fiduciary discipline, long-horizon thinking, and ESG sensibility that parallel corporate-board mandates.