She served with distinction as a Pennsylvania State Senator from 2001 to 2008 and as a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1997 to 2001. A graduate of Barnard College and the Wharton Business School of the University of Pennsylvania, Ms. Williams is also a Vice President and Director of the Hess Foundation, a major philanthropy supporting higher education and hospitals, performing arts and cultural organizations, synagogues, and human services. A New Jersey native, she is married to Dr. Sankey Williams, the Sol Katz Professor of General Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and has lived in Haverford, PA, since 1981.