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Michael Patrick Williams was born to Beulah (Nee) and XXX on March 17, 196 in Compton, California. Michael graduated from XXX high school in 1977 and was an avid participant in XXX.

Following his high school graduation, Michael attended Temple University, majoring in XXX. His stint at Temple University during the 1970's was often a turbulent and trying time for Michael. Unable to afford tuition to further his education, Michael was forced to drop out of college. At this point, Michael found himself without a college degree, unemployed and homeless on the streets of Philadelphia.

FILL this gap through 80's and into the 90's

Through hard work and perseverance, Michael returned to Temple University in the early 1990's to finish what he started, nearly two decades before. In 1993, Michael graduated magna cum laude from Temple University in 1993 with a degree in French Studies.

Upon graduating from Temple, Michael enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law. At Penn Law, Michael was the CSR (student body) President in 1995-1996, and a Vice-President of the Class of 1996. In 1996, Michael graduated from Penn Law with his J.D., and joined the firm of Montgomery, McCracken, Walker and Rhoads, LLP, as an associate in labor and employment law. While working for Montgomery McCracken, Michael served as Fund Counsel for District 1199C’s Legal Defense Fund.

WORK WITHIN THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA ETC:

Mr. Williams was a member of the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Young Lawyers Division’s Executive Committee. He was also Chair of the PBA’s Delivery of Legal Services Task Force working on loan repayment assistance issues.

Michael also served as a member of the Philadelphia Mayor John Street’s LGBT Advisory Board, and was President of OutFront!, a Philadelphia-based LGBT platform-based political advocacy organization. In 2002, Michael originally drafted the gender identity legislation that was eventually added to Philadelphia’s Fair Practices Ordinance; he also initiated the work on the non-discrimination ordinance that was enacted in New Hope, PA, also in 2002.

In July 2002, The Legal Intelligencer recognized Michael as one of eleven “Minority Rising Stars” practicing law in Pennsylvania. He was active with the Barrister’s mentoring program, and was subsequently appointed to Pennsylvania Governor-Elect Edward G. Rendell’s Department of Environmental Protection Transition Team.

In May 2003, Penn Law celebrated and awarded Comcast’s David L. Cohen, Author Lisa Scottoline, Attorney Howard Gittis and Michael P. Williams Penn Law Alumni Awards; Michael received the Distinguished Young Alumni award. In October 2003, Governor Rendell nominated Michael to be the Governor’s Commonwealth Trustee to Temple University’s Board of Trustees; the Pennsylvania Senate approved his appointment in November 2003. Michael served two consecutive terms as a Temple Trustee. Currently, Michael is a Member of the Temple Ambler College Board of Visitors. Before becoming a Temple Trustee, Michael was an adjunct faculty member at Temple University’s Fox School of Business and Management.

In addition to his work in academia, Michael has become a driving force in Philadelphia government (or politics?). In January 2004, Mayor John Street appointed Michael to the Ethics Committee of Mayor Street's Philadelphia 21st Century Review Forum, where he was the lead draftsperson of an “Omnibus Code of Ethics” for Philadelphia municipal and county employees and political officials, and for entities that do business with the City of Philadelphia. In 2004, Mayor Street appointed Michael to become a Deputy Finance Director, and the Director of the Minority Business Enterprise Council. At MBEC, Mr. Williams increased minority/women/disabled certified-business City contract (for profit) participation rates from approximately 4% to approximately 20%.

In January 2005, the Philadelphia Daily News listed Michael as one of its 21 People to Watch in 2005, and the Philadelphia Gay News named him one of its six “People of the Year.”

In February 2005, the Philadelphia Tribune (the nation’s oldest continuously published black-owned newspaper) named Michael one of Philadelphia’s African American Leaders in its annual “Philadelphia’s Most Influential African Americans” issue. Mr. Williams was again honored by the Tribune as an African American Leader in January 2006. Mr. Williams was also honored in 2006 by the Pan-Asian Association of Greater Philadelphia with a Recognition Award for his work with the Philadelphia-area Asian-American business community.

Mr. Williams has worked tirelessly, enthusiastically and successfully with Philadelphia’s City Council to either draft legislation, to edit legislation, to lobby for legislation’s passing and/or to testify in support of legislation for over 13 years and for a myriad of Philadelphia legislative matters (e.g., minority, women and disabled-owned businesses, gender equality/expression, profits to entities tied to past African slave holding, lead abatement, menu labeling, etc.).

Michael is a Mission Kids Board Member (providing, inter alia, legal expertise for Mission Kids), and does extensive volunteer work for (first as a Team Leader and now heading up) Philadelphia’s NAACP Voter Empowerment Project (i.e., voter registration, voter ID information and voter empowerment); he also led, coordinated and managed the Philadelphia’s NAACP Voter Empowerment Project’s GOTV efforts on Election Day in November 2012. Michael personally put 402 miles on his odometer, bringing voters from all across Philadelphia (from the Southwest to the Northeast, from South Philadelphia to North Philadelphia, from the Northeast to Center City, from West Philadelphia to Old City – all across Philadelphia), most of them elderly and either in wheelchairs or utilizing walkers, to the polls to vote.

Mr. Williams most recently was a Senior Attorney in the Health and Adult Services Unit for the City of Philadelphia Law Department. His primary practice area was Health Care Policy and Procedures; he also litigated in Mental Health Court, Lead Court and TB Court. Mr. Williams has successfully handled numerous sensitive and critical legal matters on the City’s behalf.

Mr. Williams left the Law Department after 6 and ½ years to join Picciotti & Schoenberg, Pennsylvania's premiere IT and IP law firm. Mr. Williams was Chairman of Picciotti & Schoenberg's Forensic IT Auditing practice. In May 2013, Mr. Williams became General Counsel of Picciotti & Schoenberg’s “sister company,” Lexington Technology, (cyber security advice, investigations and assessments for governmental, business and private clients, and drafting, reviewing and preparing Vulnerability Assessments and Risk Management plans for governmental, business and personal clients).

In 2014, Mr. Williams received a number of awards and recognition. He received a Civic Achievement Award from the Pennsylvania League of Women Voters, for, inter alia, his Voter Empowerment work and his work in various Philadelphia and Philadelphia-area communities. He also received two Citations from Philadelphia’s City Counsel (one for his League of Women Voters award; the other for his successful work at MBEC, where, again, in two years, he raised the percentage of minority, women and disabled-owned businesses receiving for-profit city contracts from approximately 4% to approximately 20%)!. The Montgomery County (PA) County Commissioners Board also recognized Mr. Williams for his League of Women Voters award and for his community work in Montgomery County.

Personal life:

Mr. Williams underwent an open-heart surgery in 2002 (aortic aneurysm/aortic valve reconstruction – a 12-hour procedure followed by a 3-hour procedure), was run down in the street by a SUV while he was walking to work in 2010, contracted MRSA in 2010, underwent a second open-heart surgery in 2011 (a 9-hour aortic valve replacement) and received a cancer diagnosis in 2013 (Stage 3 multiple myeloma) for which he underwent an autologous stem-cell transplant in 2013 and for which he currently undergoes chemotherapy (every other week for the rest of his life). Due to all the above, Mr. Williams is currently on permanent disability and on medical leave from employment. Despite Mr. Williams’ permanent disability status, he continues to represent clients on a pro bono basis, mentor over 100+ mentees and remains active on all the charitable boards upon which he sits.

Mr. Williams’ husband and partner for over 30 years, Anthony (“Tony”) R. Rodriguez, M.D., is a partner in a private Family Medicine practice in Willow Grove, PA, and also the Associate Dean for Student Affairs and Diversity at Drexel Medical School. Dr. Rodriguez is active with numerous charitable boards throughout the Philadelphia region. They have two adopted sons, Robert Kneisler (28, married to Jynea Brown) and Kristopher Kneisler (25), and a 20-month old granddaughter, Robert and Jynea’s daughter Kaylee Rose Kneisler (who Mr. Williams helped deliver!).

References

https://www.law.upenn.edu/alumni/alumnijournal/Spring2010/feature2/page02.html

http://www.temple.edu/secretary/williams.htm

https://vimeo.com/112188954

http://constitutioncenter.org/calendar/is-pennsylvanias-voter-id-law-constitutional-moderated-by-ed-rendell

https://www.law.upenn.edu/alumni/alumnijournal/Fall2003/department2/page02.html

https://www.law.upenn.edu/alumni/alumnijournal/Fall2003/department2/index.html

https://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfMichaelWilliams/info?tab=page_info

http://lxtch.com/about-us/

http://missionkidscac.org/about/staff

http://vimeo.com/11925115