Biography
Dierdre Williams is managing director of Open Society Network Grants at the Open Society Foundations. She leads Open Society’s efforts to support a global ecosystem of partners working to advance justice, rights, and equity.
Williams served previously as director of the Reassigned Grants Unit, where she and her team thoughtfully led Open Society’s responsible exit of previous fields of grant work. Williams is a “reformed lawyer” turned educator who joined OSF in 2012 as part of the Education Program, where she worked as a program officer for nine years.
Throughout her career Dierdre has operated as an agent of change by guiding people through fear and uncertainty to the greatest hope of knowing more fully who they are. She has a track record of inspiring teams to grow their own capabilities and work in ways that serve others. She is passionate about guiding philanthropy to deepen focus on creating a future world even as it fights to hold ground in the present.