Gov. Hutchinson names Cabot native as new chief of staff (Updated)

Editor’s note: Story updated with additions and changes throughout.

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Gov. Asa Hutchinson has named Alison Williams as his new chief of staff effective June 1, the governor told reporters Friday (May 20). She replaces Michael Lamoureux, a former state senator from Russellville who is leaving his post at the end of May.

Williams, 38, a graduate of the University of Arkansas and Cabot High School, has served as Hutchinson’s director of state-federal relations in his Washington, D.C., office since May 2015 but has been working in Arkansas during the ongoing special session.

Prior to that, she has had a long history with Hutchinson dating back to 2000. She served as his executive assistant when he was in the U.S. House of Representatives, was a program analyst when he was at the Drug Enforcement Agency, and was special assistant when he was at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She also was an associate with the Hutchinson Group, the governor’s former private consulting firm, from 2007-08.

Most recently, she worked for the Transportation Security Administration, where she was based in Stuttgart, Germany, as the TSA representative to the U.S. Africa Command. In that position, she worked with African civil aviation authorities to increase security. She was a director with The Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm headed by Michael Chertoff, former U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary. She has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Virginia’s Darden Graduate School of Business.

“She fits in well with the incredible team spirit that we have,” Hutchinson said. “She has the same leadership style that I would want to have, that I have. She understands the importance of the process and leading a team and having structure to it. So she brings that dynamic as well as just a breadth of experience that I think is important in that key role.”

Hutchinson said he he will replace her in D.C. “down the road.” He said the current deputy chief of staff, Jon Gilmore, will remain in his current spot. Hutchinson said there could be a reshuffling of staff duties, saying, Lamoureux’s “incredible legislative experience, we might have to supplement that along the way.”

Asked what he expects out of the position, Hutchinson said, “You can have different models, and with Lamoureux, I mean he was a strategist. He brought in legislative experience. He was  a key advisor. But you can’t do all of that and be really the chief of staff. It’s hard. And so Jon Gilmore assumed many of those responsibilities as sort of deputy. So it’s an allocation of talent and roles that you play. I expect Alison to be in more of a traditional role of chief of staff, and it is very important that the chief of staff manage the communication flow internally and externally. That’s probably as much as anything.”

Asked about who is in charge of maintaining staff discipline, Hutchinson said people would have different opinions.

“I’m a fairly hands-on governor,” he said. “I like to know all the details of it. I handle a lot of things. And so you try to put people with particular expertise in different positions, and you build it around them.”

Williams said much of her experience has involved interagency activities.

“My management style is very collaborative, but I do not shy away from making a decision or from delivering news that others don’t want to hear,” she said. “I do believe that it is possible for people to disagree and still get along.”