After spending over 20 years managing restaurants on the UCLA
campus, Bob Williams will now take on a new challenge as the
interim executive director of the university’s largest
student-run organization.
A dedicated leader and self-described perfectionist, Williams
has moved through the ranks of the Associated Students of UCLA,
starting as a supervisor of one of the on-campus restaurants to
becoming the director of food operations for ASUCLA in charge of a
number of campus food facilities.
Throughout his 23 years with the association, Williams succeeded
in turning around several food services thought to be financially
doomed.
Williams’ deep ties with the ASUCLA and ““ as one
association board member put it ““ his “great
relationship” with other people at the university led to his
recent appointment as interim executive director.
While ASUCLA searches for a permanent executive director,
Williams still must decide whether or not he will apply for the
job.
“I think it’s a very complex job with a lot of
complex issues to deal with, and I haven’t decided whether
it’s something I wanted to do yet,” he said.
Before beginning his career with ASUCLA, Williams spent his
undergraduate years at UCLA, working on the Rieber Hall food
services team and eventually moving up to become a student
supervisor in the residence hall.
“Food services is very hard work. It’s dirty, late
at night, but you really get to know and respect and care about the
people you work with,” Williams said.
Angela Marciano, one of Williams’ colleagues and
housemates during their undergraduate years, said she found
Williams to be “very dedicated, focused and disciplined in
everything he did.”
As food service workers, Marciano said both she and Williams
often had to work extended shifts at the dining hall. It was not
unusual for them and other housemates, most of whom were also food
service workers, to be up from 6 a.m. to 2 a.m., she said.
Marciano, who is now associate director of housing and
hospitality services, said working in food services was fun because
of the camaraderie among workers.
“In those days, a lot of students were employed in the
dining services, and we had a great time together,” she
said.
“Bob would tell you that he is the best pot-washer, but I
was really the one who had the cleanest pot,” Marciano
added.
After graduating from UCLA in 1980 with a bachelor’s
degree in economics, Williams was uncertain about what he wanted to
do. Williams finally decided to take up his first job as a night
manager of the Treehouse, a cafeteria then located on the first
floor of Ackerman Union.
After about a year and a half working at the Treehouse, Williams
said he recalled he was unhappy with his job.
“I didn’t understand what was going on, and the work
wasn’t going that well,” he said.
His view of the job changed, however, when students who had once
worked for him came up to tell him how valuable their experience
had been in helping them get their new jobs.
“It changed my whole perspective on what I was doing. That
kind of a positive feedback really made me feel like I was making a
difference in people’s lives,” Williams explained.
From then on, Williams started operating his job from a
“coaching, mentoring and staff-development
standpoint.”
After a few years of working at the Treehouse, Williams decided
to apply for the operations manager position that had opened up at
the cafeteria.
“When I went for an interview, they told me I wasn’t
qualified, that I didn’t have enough experience cooking and
working in the back of the house. I told them that I guarantee that
I would (work within) budget and cut the costs in the kitchen.
Otherwise, I’d quit,” Williams said.
Based on his guarantee, Williams was given the operations
manager job. By working with his food services staff and the head
chef of the eatery, Williams was able to lower costs and
successfully change operation methods in the kitchen.
Williams continued working his way up through the food services
department, eventually becoming general manager of the cafeteria.
In 1994, Williams was appointed as division manager of all the
restaurants on the first floor of Ackerman Union.
Two years later, Williams was named associate director of
ASUCLA’s food services department, in charge of food
facilities located in the southern region of campus, as well as
catering and concessions. At the time, financial problems led the
association to consider closing down catering and switching control
of concessions to an outside organization.
Newly appointed to his post, Williams set out to find ways to
save both departments.
To improve concessions, Williams tried to find ways to service
the large number of customers who came to sporting events on campus
and began a project of building the food court patio now located
outside the first floor of Ackerman Union.
“And lo and behold, we had a fantastic year in
concessions,” he said.
Williams then hired new catering managers and worked out a
strategy to improve the department. With concessions and catering
finally showing profits, Williams was able to retain both
departments, which now make a combined $300,000 each year.
Williams continued working to improve food services when he
became the director of food operations in 1999, drawing up a master
plan to revamp the various food locations on campus that included a
project to replace the Cooperage with a casual dining space that
serves alcohol.
Though his commitment to ASUCLA is considered indisputable,
Williams said he would not have worked for so long had it not been
for the chance to work with students.
“I really consider myself an educator and a coach. …
It’s working with the students that really is what I
enjoy,” Williams said.
Williams’ colleagues described him as being passionate
about student development.
“Bob looks at his job from the perspective of students,
and that to me is his best characteristic,” said Roy
Champawat, division manager of ASUCLA food operations who has
worked with Williams for the past 15 years.
Due to his deep attachment to the association, Williams
sometimes struggles to maintain a balance between his personal life
and his job. After getting married in 1997 to Cynthia Holmes, whom
he knew from when he worked at the Treehouse, Williams decided to
move further away from campus. The pair have a 5-year-old son and
3-year-old twin boys.
“It really forces you to balance your life better. I
learned to trust my manager more and to delegate more
responsibilities. My job was much easier after that,” he
said.
“But, to be honest, I still spend a lot of time thinking
about the association,” Williams added.