Richard L. Williams is publisher of Black Business Ink magazine, which he founded in 2003 to serve as a champion for African American business, entrepreneurship and building wealth. Richard also is founding partner of Winston-Salem, N.C.-based BBM Marketing+PR and founder and convener of the State of Black North Carolina Conference. Richard has extensive journalism experience via newspapers in North Carolina, New York and Washington, D.C. He also has corporate experience from his time as an executive at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. Richard is a charter member of the Winston-Salem African American Chamber of Commerce. He was honored by the N.Y. Chapter of NABJ and the NNPA, the latter of which was accompanied by a congratulatory letter from U.S. President William Jefferson Clinton. He led recent efforts to establish the Salem Lodge/Robert A. Miller Scholarship Fund to help pay for students to attend HBCUs. He is a former lecturer of Mass Communications at Winston-Salem State University. Richard is chairman of the Carolina Christian College Board of Directors and a member of the Creative Corridors Coalitions Board of Directors. He is former chairman of the Winston-Salem Urban League Board of Directors, the Winston-Salem Masonic Order Board of Directors, the AARP African-American Advisory Board, the Carolina Donor Services Minority Outreach Task Force, and the Forsyth Tech Mazie Woodruff Campus Advisory Board. He is a former member of the Bookmarks Board of Directors and the WSSU Small Business & Technology Development Center Board of Advisors. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi National Fraternity, Inc.