David Williams, longtime Ozark Guidance CEO, dies

Dr. David Williams III of Fayetteville, former CEO of Springdale-based behavioral health provider Ozark Guidance Center, has died. He was 84. Williams, or “Doc” as area businesspeople called him, was CEO for 30 years and retired in 2007.

According to a Thursday (Feb. 27) news release, Williams’ leadership and vision helped shape Ozark Guidance’s success and enabled it to become part of Arisa Health in 2020 when Ozark Guidance and three other Arkansas community mental health centers joined to form the state’s largest nonprofit behavioral health provider. It has 1,050 staff and serves 52,446 Arkansans in 41 counties.

Williams was a Texas minister early in his career before he moved to Northwest Arkansas and joined Ozark Guidance in 1977. Under his leadership, the nonprofit expanded programs, staff and operations, community presence, treatments, and technologies, including electronic medical record and telehealth capacity.

He also was a mentor to other community health leaders. Five of his former colleagues at Ozark Guidance became CEOs of mental health centers in Arkansas, Alabama, and Georgia. This includes Laura Tyler, CEO of Arisa Health.

“I feel extremely honored to have worked with David,” Tyler said. “He was a servant leader whose vision was unparalleled. He was mission-driven and laser-focused on meeting mental health needs, creating collaborations and developing tomorrow’s leaders.”

The press release noted area leaders would often contact Williams when a family member or colleague was struggling with a behavioral health issue, and he would find them help.

Williams received numerous honors, including the Stockburger Lifetime Achievement Award from the Arkansas Mental Health Council, the University of Arkansas’ Honorary Social Worker of the Year Award, the Dr. Tom Bruce Arkansas Health Impact Award from the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement in Little Rock, and the Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Council for Mental Wellbeing.

According to an online memorial by the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement (ACHI), Williams said his dream was to “make community mental health services accessible, of great quality and affordable.” He saw his work in mental health as an extension of his pastoral care.

After retirement, he worked for the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Psychiatric Research Institute’s Northwest Arkansas clinic, where he helped to reestablish inpatient psychiatric services to the region after a period without acute care for adults with serious mental illness. In 2010, he helped lead community representatives in developing an update to the Northwest Arkansas Adult Acute Care Mental Health Plan.

“Behavioral health care in Arkansas, especially in Northwest Arkansas, would look very different today if not for the leadership and far-ranging influence of Dr. Williams,” said ACHI interim President and CEO Craig Wilson. “He truly maintained a lifelong commitment to improving the health of Arkansans.”

The funeral will be at 3 p.m. March 17 at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville.