Dr. Abi Williams is a scholar and international affairs practitioner who has held leadership positions in academia, think tanks, and the United Nations. He is Professor of the Practice of International Politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and the Tisch College of Civic Life at Tufts University. He has also served as Director of the Institute for Global Leadership at Tufts University and President of The Hague Institute for Global Justice. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Williams served at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) first as Vice President of the Center for Conflict Analysis and Prevention, and later as Senior Vice President of the Center for Conflict Management. He led USIP's work on prevention and in major conflict zones, including Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, and Libya.

From 2001 to 2007, Dr. Williams served as Director of Strategic Planning for UN Secretaries-General Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon. As an academic, he has served as Associate Dean of the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., and held faculty appointments at the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and the University of Rochester. He was Chair of the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS), and a member of the UN Secretary-General's Advisory Board on Disarmament Matters, the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Justice, the U.S.-Netherlands Fulbright Commission, the Lester Pearson College UWC Board of Trustees, and the International Board of Directors of the United World Colleges. He is currently a professor of international politics at Tisch College, Tufts University.

In this episode, Dr. Williams speaks to the role of race in international justice institutions, unpacks personal lessons learned from his extensive career as diplomat and academic practitioner, and explains his role as a mentor and community builder, among other topics.