Memuna Williams

Memuna works in the Office of the CEO on short and long-term cross-functional projects of strategic or operational significance at African Leadership Academy.

Memuna drives cross functional strategic projects working with leadership across the organization, assists in the delivery of events, supports the definition of key donor communication and sponsorship processes, and of key executive communications to major partners and donors.

Memuna started her career in language services in Canada at an independent, public railway company with roughly 13 billion dollars in revenue operating in six Canadian provinces and 13 US states. She went on to work in the United States for a global language services provider with more than 70 offices on five continents, for a premier localization service provider and for her own award-winning firm with offices in the US, Canada, Kenya and Nigeria. Memuna was the Chief Operating Officer at a non-governmental organization in Lagos, Nigeria.

Memuna is part of the Advisory program at ALA, assists with the Year 1 orientation program and participates in Seminal Readings. She is also a Student Enterprise Board Member.

Expertise

Management
Entrepreneurship
Operations
Strategy
Research

Education

Candidate, Doctor of Business Administration – University of Liverpool – Liverpool, United Kingdom
Master of Business Administration – Queens University of Charlotte – Charlotte, NC
Master of Arts in French-English Translation – Université de Montréal – Montreal, Canada
Bachelor of Arts in French-English Translation – Concordia University – Montreal, Canada

Honours and Awards

Charlotte Business Leader Magazine’s Women Extraordinaire Award (2011)
Charlotte Business Journal Woman in Business Award (2010)
NAWBO Charlotte’s Pioneer Award (2007)
NAWBO Charlotte Rising Star Award (2006)

Speaking Engagements

NAWBO Charlotte’s June 2006 meeting, “Entrepreneurial Stories”
CATI 21st Annual Conference, 2006, “The Art of Translation Dealings: Basics and Beyond for Starting a Translation Business”
ATA 45th Annual Conference, 2004, “Outsourcing and the Translation Industry”
ATA 44th Annual Conference, 2003, “Why Professional Development? Reflections on Renewal through Continuing Education”” “Enterprising Women of the Year – Honorable Mention (2015)

Publications

“ATA Chronicle, “Value of the In-house Linguist”
CATI Quarterly, “Niche Marketing for Translators and Interpreters”
Briefly, NAWBO-Charlotte, “Pressing Public Policy Need in Charlotte”
Circuit, “The Case for Increased Foreign Language Instruction …”
Circuit, Translation in Sub-Saharan Africa: History’s Legacy”
Circuit, Literary Translators and the Books They Choose to Translate”
Circuit, “Small Words with Great Significance”, ATA 51st Annual Conference, 2010, “Finance for the Life of Your Language Services Business”