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Roger Ross Williams '83

Roger Ross Williams is making a big name for himself in the intensely competitive world of television and entertainment media, having produced and written a broad range of high-profile projects for a variety of companies, including ABC, AOL and PBS.

While a student at Northampton, Williams discovered his passion for the law, as well as writing and telling stories, and began to plan his career path.  After graduating with a general education degree in 1983, he continued his studies at NYU, earning a bachelor's degree in journalism and politics.

Looking for a creative outlet, Roger began his career in the news business.  One of his first writing and producing credits was for TV Nation, a satirical comedy series hosted by Michael Moore, director of Fahrenheit 911.  Roger co-produced a segment on the plight of female factory workers in Texas and California who were not given the proper time or facilities to 'take care of business' during their breaks.  This attracted national attention as well as the attention of OSHA.  Another challenge he accepted was to work for Robert Redford, producing coverage of Redford's Sundance Film Festival, where he interviewed all the competing filmmakers.

He has produced and directed numerous television specials on arts and culture for PBS, ABC Entertainment, The Sundance Channel, Showtime, and the The Discovery Times Channel.  PBS specials include TV411 and In the Life; ABC Entertainment special is Challenge America with Erin Brockovitch; Sundance Channel specials include Seattle Film Festival, Charlotte Film Festival, Sundance Dallies, and Discovered at Sundance.  Roger's columns on pop culture have appeared online on AOL's The Hub and the Style Channel.

His TV news credits include NBC News, MSNBC, ABC News, CNN and the highly rated Barbara Walters Specials for ABC.  At NBC News, he produced segments on The Today Show, Nightly News and MSNBC.  At ABC News, Roger wrote and produced for critically acclaimed specials including the AIDS special Sex, Drugs & Consequences, and the youth culture special called Power of One.  He also produced episodes of ABC News Nightline and PBS's one-hour documentary series "Life 360."

Most recently, Roger has worked for Al Roker Productions and Executive Produced 26 episodes of Sheila Bridges Designer Living which aired on The Fine Living Channel.  He is currently developing shows and producing documentaries for ABC News Productions and is directing a feature documentary film.