John N. Williams, DMD, MBA

Dr. John N. Williams, throughout his extensive academic career, has mentored many successful leaders who have advanced to roles of dental dean and beyond. Now as a Senior Consultant at AAL, he shares his large expertise in coaching and program development with emphasis on dental accreditation. In addition, he has considerable experience in planning, administrative organization, higher education finance, faculty mentoring, leadership development, and philanthropy. He has served as interim president/president of Transylvania University, Lexington, KY, served for 21 years as a dental dean of three research intensive university-based dental schools: Indiana University (2010-2019), University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (2005-2010), and University of Louisville (1998-2005). He also served as Associate Dean for Educational Programs (Louisville) and as Assistant University Provost (Louisville) in charge of discipline-specific accreditations. He has been active at the national level serving as a member of the Commission on Dental Accreditation (CODA-Chicago) and Chair of the CODA Pre-doctoral Review Committee, which oversees accreditation policy for all DDS/DMD educational programs in the United States. As a CODA Chair Consultant for over 20 years, he has led periodic and initial site-visits for over half the dental schools in the US. He has served as vice president for Deans of the American Dental Education Association (ADEA) and as a member of the ADEA Board of Directors. For five years, he was a faculty adviser and mentor for the national coaching program: ADEA-AAL Leadership Institute. Currently he is a Coach-Mentor for the recently established ADEA Council of Deans Fellowship program. He has made over 260 presentations to groups on dental and higher education. Dr. Williams has authored or coauthored more than twenty-five articles on dental education. He is a Fellow of the American College of Dentists, Fellow of the Pierre Fauchard Academy and Fellow of the International College of Dentists. He is currently a member of two private higher education boards of trustees.