About the Publisher Richard L. Williams, publisher of Black Business Ink and HBCU Matters magazines, is among North Carolina’s leading businessmen. Since 2000, Richard has founded numerous businesses and spearheaded myriad initiatives, including an annual nonpartisan leadership conference that convenes statewide leaders to address and seek solutions for inequities and injustices that plague African American communities across North Carolina.
Richard is also a founding partner of BBM Marketing+PR, which is based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and since 2003 has produced Black Business Ink magazine and the State of Black North Carolina Conference. The magazine and the SBNCC will celebrate their 20-year anniversaries in 2023!
Richard is a charter member of the Winston-Salem African American Chamber of Commerce; a four-term Chairman of the Carolina Christian College Board of Directors; a three-term Chairman of the Winston-Salem Urban League Board of Directors; and a two-term Chairman of the Winston-Salem Masonic Order Board of Directors. He has also served as Chairman of the AARP African American Advisory Board; the Carolina Donor Services Minority Outreach Task Force; and the Forsyth Technical Community College/Mazie Woodruff Campus Advisory Board.
Richard is a former Board member of Bookmarks; Partners for Homeownership; Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC); and the Winston-Salem State University Small Business & Technology Development Center. He currently serves as a member of the Creative Corridors Coalition Board of Directors. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Richard was a public relations executive with Fortune 500 business R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. An award-winning journalist, Richard has worked at newspapers in New York, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. Richard has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Speech Communication from North Carolina A&T State University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Wake Forest University. He is a former lecturer of Mass Communications at Winston-Salem State University. He is also a proud member of Omega Psi Phi National Fraternity, Inc., and a 33rd Degree Prince Hall Mason.
About the Publisher