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

6th 6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number. In mathematics Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...

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, located in the far northern part of the state. Situated on the banks of the Rock River, Rockford is the county seat of Winnebago County (a small portion of the city is located in Ogle County). ...

. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in operations management and information systems from Bradley University in 1984. Williams learned

assembly language In computer programming, assembly language (or 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 be ...

as a college student.

Career

Business

After graduating from college, Williams moved to Chicago and became a software developer for Arthur Andersen. 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 original company was founded in Germany in 1904. In 1989, the Thermos operating companies in Japan, the UK, Canada and Australia were acqu ...

. 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. In 1931, Garst and Thomas Hi-Bred Corn Company was founded by Roswell Garst and Charley Thomas in Coon Rapids, Iowa, and was "instrumental in ...

. 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. 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 cauc ...

. Williams was elected to the Iowa Senate in November 2020 and assumed office on January 11, 2021. He serves as vice chair of the Senate Government Oversight Committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Craig Living people People from Rockford, Illinois Bradley University alumni People from Carroll County, Iowa Republican Party Iowa state senators Year of birth missing (living people)