Julie L. Williams

Dates Served: October 14, 2004 – August 4, 2005 and April 5, 1998 – December 7, 1998.  

Julie L. Williams was appointed Acting Comptroller of the Currency twice.  She assumed this role from October 14, 2004, until August 4, 2005, following the term of the 28^th Comptroller of the Currency John D. Hawke Jr, and before the swearing-in of John C. Dugan, who became the 29^th Comptroller of the Currency. She also oversaw the agency in 1998 following the conclusion of Comptroller of the Currency Eugene A. Ludwig’s term as the 27^th Comptroller of the Currency and the beginning of Comptroller Hawke’s term.

Ms. Williams was designated as the agency’s statutory "First Deputy" by the Secretary of the Treasury in 1997 and named First Senior Deputy Comptroller by Comptroller Hawke in September 1999. Prior to this position, she was appointed as Chief Counsel in 1994 with responsibility for all of the agency’s legal activities, including legal advisory services to banks and examiners, enforcement and compliance activities, litigation, legislative initiatives, and regulation of securities and corporate practices of national banks.   

In addition to overseeing the OCC’s Law Department, Ms. Williams supervised the Licensing Department and the Community Affairs Department. As the Comptroller’s top legal advisor, she was a member of the Executive Committee, and provided advice and guidance on major issues and actions.

Ms. Williams joined the OCC in May 1993 as Deputy Chief Counsel with responsibility for special legislative and regulatory projects. Starting in September 2001, Ms. Williams served as the OCC’s representative on the board of directors of NeighborWorks America, a nonprofit organization created by the Congress to support community-based revitalization efforts. She was designated Vice Chairman of the Board in 2007.

Before joining the OCC, Ms. Williams served in a variety of positions at the Office of Thrift Supervision and its predecessor agency, the Federal Home Loan Bank Board. From 1991 to 1993, she was Senior Deputy Chief Counsel, responsible for regulations and legislation, corporate and securities law, and general legal issues. She previously served as Deputy Chief Counsel for Securities and Corporate Analysis. She joined the Bank Board in 1983, after working as an attorney with the law firm of Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Kampelman in Washington, D.C., from 1975 to 1983.

Ms. Williams is the author of "National Banks and the Dual Banking System (OCC, 2003)," "Savings Institutions: Mergers, Acquisitions and Conversions" (Law Journal Seminars-Press, 1988), and numerous articles on the regulation of depository institutions, financial services, securities and corporate law matters.

She was awarded a B.A. from Goddard College, Plainfield, Vermont, in 1971, and a J.D. in 1975 from Antioch School of Law in Washington, D.C., where she was first in her class.