LTC
Leadership
John Williams
Founder and Executive Director
More than two decades of youth work, program development, mentoring, school engagement, and organizational leadership.
Life That Counts’ founder, John Williams, began working with young people in 1999 and established Life That Counts in 2012. Life that Counts, Inc. was formally incorporated in April 2016 and began full-time nonprofit operations that July. He holds a Bachelor of Arts from Lee University and an Associate of Science from Gadsden State Community College.
Across more than two decades, his work has included school-based instruction, assemblies, peer and cross-age mentoring, professional development, family engagement, leadership coaching, federal-grant implementation, program development, and partnership-building with schools, community organizations, funders, and independent evaluators. He guides organizational strategy and program design while remaining close to the practical questions faced by educators, families, and young people.
His approach asks participants to connect present decisions with relationships, responsibility, work, family, and the future they hope to build. It also reflects a long-standing interest in the ways mentoring, belonging, positive peer culture, trusted adults, and help-seeking can strengthen a young person’s support system. In 2020, he delivered a TEDxWilsonPark talk exploring those ideas. The talk is one expression of Life That Counts’ mentoring perspective; it is not presented as evidence that mentoring alone can prevent violence or guarantee a particular outcome.
Today, John works with the Board, staff, facilitators, schools, community partners, funders, and evaluators to shape programs that are transparent about their purpose, boundaries, evidence, and responsibilities.