Texas A&M Interim President Tommy Williams ‘78 wants to make one thing very clear: He isn’t seeking the position permanently.

“It was the only condition that I would consider the position on,” Williams said. “I am not the right person to lead this university on a long-term basis. I understand that I am very good at helping solve problems and turn things around. I’ve done this before in state government, and I think I can do it here.”

When Williams first got word from Texas A&M University System Chancellor Glenn Hegar asking if he’d be willing to take over the role of interim president, the first thing he said was he felt surprised as he wasn’t looking to take on the job. 

But he and his wife are “all-in, money, marbles and chalk,” Williams said.

“The chancellor and I have been friends for over 20 years,” Williams said. “I know his wife, we admire them a great deal. They’re great family, and he surprised me, but I’m honored that he thinks I can do the job, and we’re going to do the very best that we can to make sure we don’t disappoint him in that.”

Hegar and Williams’ relationship dates back to their days in the Texas Legislature, when Hegar ran for a Texas House district that overlapped with Williams’ senate district.

“Tommy Williams has a deep understanding of the mission of Texas A&M and the values that define our university,” Hegar said in a news release from the A&M System. “His experience in public service and his commitment to the Aggie community will serve us well as we continue to move forward.”

After graduating from A&M in 1978 with a degree in business administration and embarking on a business career, Williams served as a Republican representative for parts of Southeast Texas in the Texas House from 1997 to 2003 and later in the Texas Senate from 2003 to 2013, while continuing his career in financial work.

He then served the A&M System as vice chancellor of governmental relations from 2014 to 2018 and as an advisor to Gov. Greg Abbott from 2017 until his retirement in 2019.

“[The vice chancellor role] was an easy fit for me to make,” Williams said. “I understood the political world, and that’s what I was responsible for. And so I think how that helps me today is that I learned more about higher education while I worked here, and how that works. … So it was very educational, and I think it’s going to serve me well in this role.”

Williams takes on the role of interim president following the resignation of former President Mark A. Welsh III, who left the office in the wake of a leaked video of an in-class altercation that led to the termination of a professor and the removal of a department head and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences from administrative duties.

But Williams was complimentary of Welsh and says that hasn’t created any new tension. Instead, Williams is looking forward to the university’s future.

“I consider Mark and [his wife] Betty to be friends of ours,” Williams said. “Betty and my wife Marsha are in a Bunco group together. Not sure how much Bunco they play, but the Welshes host the spouses of that group at their home once a year, and I’ve done that a couple of times. … I have tremendous respect for his service to our country, and also for the position that he’s left A&M. He’s left us in a good place, and what we need to do is focus on what things are going right and make sure that we continue those things.”

‘I’ve done my job well if they feel like I’ve listened to them’

His political experience may be the headliner, but Williams says he brings what he learned in the business world to this new role, too.

“Folks think that if you’re, for instance, a salesman, a good salesman does a lot of talking,” Williams said. “Actually, a good salesman listens to his prospect a lot and finds out if there’s a way for him to help that person or not. … No one cares about how much you know until they know how much you care about them.”

It’s that same listening mindset that Williams is already bringing to the Office of the President. He says it’s the main thing he wants students to think of when they picture him in the office.

“I’m a good listener,” Williams said. “I hope that’s what they feel like. I’ve done my job well if they feel like I’ve listened to them and addressed their concerns.”

In his first weeks on the job, Williams has been making the rounds across campus in an attempt to connect with students, faculty, former students and other stakeholders in the future of Aggieland.

“I hope people will come away believing that I listen to them,” Williams said. “ … There’s lots of constituencies, if you will, that need to be heard. I want to know what their concerns are, and as we determine what those things are, we’ll be able to formulate a plan of how we move forward through this interim period.”

Some of those early conversations have been with members of faculty — the sort of conversations he hasn’t had since his prior role with the A&M System, Williams said.

“The thing that was very reassuring to me was especially, you know, I hadn’t visited with the faculty in a long time, and so they all love the university,” Williams said. “I knew the students would love the university — I wasn’t surprised by that — but there are a lot of committed people that are helping make this a great place that it is.”

Williams says he’s honored to have the opportunity to lead and provide stability to his alma mater while the Board of Regents searches for a permanent president. 

“And actually, there’s not much turning around that needs to be done,” Williams said. “What needs to happen is people need to start focusing on all the good things that are happening here, and we need to give the Board of Regents the time to be able to make a good selection for the next leader.”

An Aggie legacy

Williams’ ties to A&M date back to long before his own time as a student. He grew up in a family of Aggies, as his father played football at A&M and all four of his siblings attended school in Aggieland.

“My dad went to school here, and he said, ‘You can go anywhere you want to, but I’ll help pay your way to A&M,’” Williams said. “I think a lot of people hear that from their parents — almost in a joking way — but I never really, I didn’t apply anywhere else. I didn’t ever really consider attending school anywhere other than Texas A&M.”

Growing up in the small East Texas town of Marshall, Williams said he and his family often piled into a station wagon and made the trip through the Piney Woods down Highways 79 and 21 to Aggieland for football game days.

Of course, things around campus have changed since then.

“In front of the [Memorial Student Center] back then, it was two lanes in each direction, with an esplanade in the middle,” Williams said. “… My brothers and sisters and I would stand in that esplanade during march-in and hear the Corps marching in with everything they had going on. And then you would be right in the middle with the Fightin’ Texas Aggie Band when they marched in playing. It was just really awesome. You know, [you] feel like you’re really getting sucked up into Aggie heaven when that happens.”

During his time as a student — living in what is now Utay Hall — Williams worked as a student runner, carrying memos across campus and throughout the local community. This is type of thing that would be handled via email today, Williams was quick to point out. 

“It was a great experience for me, because I got to see a lot of parts of campus,” Williams said. “ … I got to see all of campus and the extension services and things that normally, as a student, you may not be involved in. So I learned a lot about A&M, and I met a lot of really nice people.”

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Like many Aggies, Williams can count the lifelong friendships that were made or strengthened during his time at A&M. 

Most importantly, A&M’s Core Values were a part of his life then just as they are now.

“Our Core Values are enduring,” Williams said. “We didn’t have them identified and speak of them the same way that we do now — that’s a newer thing from when I was here — but it doesn’t mean that the Core Values weren’t there. And the Respect for other people, Loyalty, all those things get inoculated into you when you’re a student here, and it’s part of what makes us a special place. … I was a kid from a small town in East Texas, and everything that I’ve been able to accomplish in my life and my career, A&M’s had a lot to do with it, and I learned those skills here.” 

That and his deep love for A&M is something Williams hopes will help him as he takes over the role of interim president.

“If you love this university, you’ll give everything you can to make sure that things work out well for it,” Williams said. “And I think I understand the ethos that makes up what this place is all about, and I want to preserve and protect that, and I want to see it grow in the future. Most of all, I want the students who attend here to have the same great opportunities that A&M afforded me that I didn’t even know existed when I entered school here.”