Dr. James Arthur Williams

Dr. James Arthur Williams is the owner of Unmaskytp consulting, where he serves as a sought-after leadership, professional development, conflict resolution, mental agility/perseverance, and change management speaker. Dr. Williams has spoken professionally for 12+ years to small (5) and large audiences (12,000 +) domestically and internationally (Bulgaria, France, Spain, China, Korea, etc.), with 24 years of work experience in the hospitality industry, dental, manufacturing, banking, sales, professional arena football, pharmaceuticals, military (USAF), k-12 education, and R-1 and for-profit universities.

Dr. Williams serves as an associate professor and former Director of University Honors at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Williams has designed and implemented a leadership curriculum for the Haslam Scholars and change management workshops for Marriott. Dr. Williams conducted in-person and virtual servant leadership development training sessions for hospitality managers and supervisors and CHE (certified hospitality educator) teaching pedagogy instructional training for 100+ hospitality professors.

Dr. Williams is a professional actor and wrote a book about mental agility called "From Thug to Scholar: An Odyssey to Unmask My True Potential" based on his life. He won INDIE Best Book for 2020 self-help with "Check Your Life: Be Limitless," related to his featured speaker talk for TEDx UTK in 2019, "Check Life." Dr. Williams was recognized as a Top 15 Emerging Scholar of 2019 by Diverse: Issues in Higher Education. Dr. Williams was also the Best international mentor for the Chinese Hospitality Education Initiative for the 2019 national championship in Shanghai, China.