Student Profile: Khalil Williams, MA Class of 2027

Khalil Williams, MA Class of 2027, said his interest in social policy and wealth inequality stems from personal experience. “I saw the impacts of deindustrialization on my hometown of Anderson, Indiana. A lack of adequate policy and resources introduced my community to increased crime and housing insecurity while leaving us in a food desert and our education ranking plummeting. I also saw the impact of social policy in my own life, as it provided a foundation to stand on when my family had none.”

Williams ended up enrolling at Purdue University on the recommendation of both his high school calculus teacher and his basketball coach. “They recommended I study something that would be highly compensated…and I spent a year and a half in Purdue's engineering program and realized I'm not meant to be an engineer,” he said.

Williams shifted his area of study to psychology, spurring his interest in sociology, political science, and economics. “By the end of my senior year, I was getting involved in research on America's intervention with North Africa—Morocco in particular—which opened up some doors for me to go and pursue a Master's in North African and Middle Eastern History in Morocco.”

Unfortunately, Williams said, the COVID pandemic began, so he did not complete that degree but returned home, where he began working at Valley Oaks Health, a nonprofit serving people experiencing homelessness. “There, I saw that while we have quite a few resources to help people who are in that rock-bottom place, we don't have a lot of resources for people who are in the process of falling.”

This observation led Williams to shift his career trajectory towards financial services: first in private wealth at a Fortune 500 firm, then financial planning at a Fortune 100 insurance firm, and finally as head of his own independent financial advisory practice, Omni Wealth Planning.

“I’m interested in bridging the wealth gap inside of minority communities. I do a lot of advocacy work for the protection of employees and their wages, especially relative to the cost of living, and help people to realize that wealth is deeper than just dollars and cents. However, I realized there’s no amount of investing that can save somebody from a position of not making enough money to afford life. And that's the systemic issue that brought my attention to policy, because policy shapes how we engage with financial institutions.”

Williams began considering master’s programs and said the Harris School of Public Policy one-year MA in Public Policy stood out. “I appreciate the intersectional work Harris does to combine the different social sciences to get to a more comprehensive outcome, and the University of Chicago is a leading contributor to the modern discussion on the nature of inequalities in America and abroad. Plus, the Stone Center [for Research on Wealth Inequality & Mobility] provides an interdisciplinary platform that has proven itself as an agent of change.”

From a policy lens, Williams said, “I'm curious about how we can approach equitable distribution on the returns of our labor that does not have to be seen as a threat by those who have the financial capital to influence the political landscape. How can we bridge the gap to realize that we, in a laboring capacity, are needed for our economy to thrive?”

In the long term, Williams said he’d like to pursue a PhD in public policy and economic sociology and then get involved with consulting or think tank work.

As for advice for prospective Harris students, Williams said, “Be creative. Be vulnerable. Come with a plan in mind—not just how Harris will impact you, but how you'll leave an impact on Harris.”