Craig Williams is an American politician serving as a member of the

Iowa Senate The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the Iowa, state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, . Each Senat ...

from the 6th district. Elected in November 2020, he assumed office on January 11, 2021.

Early life and education

Williams is a native of

Rockford, Illinois Rockford is a city in Winnebago County, Illinois, Winnebago and Ogle County, Illinois, Ogle counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Located in far northern Illinois on the banks of the Rock River (Mississippi River tributary), Rock River, Rockfor ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in operations management and information systems from

Bradley University Bradley University is a private university in Peoria, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1897, Bradley University enrolls 5,200 students who are pursuing degrees in more than 100 undergraduate programs and more than 30 graduate programs in fiv ...

in 1984. Williams learned

assembly language In computing, assembly language (alternatively assembler language or symbolic machine code), often referred to simply as assembly and commonly abbreviated as ASM or asm, is any low-level programming language with a very strong correspondence bet ...

as a college student.

Career

Business

After graduating from college, Williams moved to

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and became a software developer for

Arthur Andersen Arthur Andersen LLP was an American accounting firm based in Chicago that provided auditing, tax advising, consulting and other professional services to large corporations. By 2001, it had become one of the world's largest multinational corpo ...

. After marrying his wife in 1985, Williams left Chicago and worked as a software developer for

Thermos LLC Thermos LLC is a manufacturer of insulated food and beverage containers and other consumer products. The company was originally founded in Germany in 1904 and is now headquartered in the United States, under the ownership of the Japanese company ...

. He later moved with his wife and two children to

Manning, Iowa Manning is a city in Carroll County, Iowa, United States, along Iowa Highway 141. The population was 1,455 at the time of the 2020 census. It is named for Orlando Harrison Manning, a Lieutenant Governor of Iowa. History Prior to the city's f ...

, where he worked in the IT department of

Garst Seed Company Garst Seed Company was a U.S.-based subsidiary of Syngenta that produced hybrid seeds for agriculture. History In 1931, Garst and Thomas Hi-Bred Corn Company was founded by Roswell Garst and Charley Thomas in Coon Rapids, Iowa, and was "ins ...

. He also worked as an accountant for the company before joining Midwest Seed Genetics in 1998. In 2001, he became the director of operations for Channel Bio LLC. In 2004, he joined Stauffer Seed Company and later managed the sale of Renze Seed Company to

Dow AgroSciences Dow AgroSciences Limited liability company, LLC was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dow Chemical Company specializing in not only agricultural chemicals such as pesticides, but also seeds and biotechnology solutions. The company was based in ...

. Williams later left the seed industry and founded an independent consulting business.

Politics

In 2008, Williams was elected chair of the Carroll County Republican Central Committee. He later served as treasurer of the

Republican Party of Iowa The Republican Party of Iowa (RPI) is the affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), United States Republican Party in Iowa. The State Central Committee is chaired by Jeff Kaufmann. The RPI operates the Republican side of the Iowa caucu ...

. Williams was elected to the

in November 2020 and assumed office on January 11, 2021. He served as vice chair of the Senate Government Oversight Committee. Due to Iowa's redistricting, Williams opted not to run for re-election in 2022. In 2024, he ran for Iowa's 11th District House seat and was elected on November 5th, 2024. Williams was named Vice Chair to the Local Government Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Craig Living people People from Rockford, Illinois Bradley University alumni People from Carroll County, Iowa Republican Party Iowa state senators 21st-century members of the Iowa General Assembly Year of birth missing (living people)