Kate Williams was appointed to the Mayor’s Disability Council by Mayor Edwin Lee in 2017. Kate’s passion is supporting blind and visually impaired job seekers to secure employment in the competitive job market.  Kate experienced vision loss late in her career and has drawn on her twenty plus years of experience as a human resource professional to serve as the basis for developing employment workshops and job coaching activities. 

She served in an HR Generalist capacity for ten years with a leading international pharmaceutical company, recruiting national field sales forces and executive management.  Kate received special commendation for the recruitment and retention of minority employees.  When Kate began losing her vision and could no longer drive, she relocated to San Francisco, where public transportation was plentiful.  That was seventeen years ago.  Kate began a successful career in Executive Recruitment.  She is recognized as a leading employment coach and motivator. Kate has served on the San Francisco Chapter Board of NCHRA (Northern California Human Resources Association).

Kate joined The Lighthouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired in 2010.  She designed the Employment Immersion Program.  The Program has served 218 blind and visually impaired job seekers and has a placement rate of 42%.  The program has generated 3.5 million dollars in salaries.

Kate is a recipient of the prestigious “Purpose Prize” sponsored by Encore.org