Otis Williams is again appointed to lead the St. Louis Development Corporation

The St. Louis Development Corporation’s board of directors on Thursday elected Otis Williams, the organization’s former head, as interim president and CEO.

Williams will start on Friday after previously serving in the position from 2013 to 2021, when former St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones took office. New Mayor Cara Spencer had expressed interest in Williams replacing Jones’ pick, Neal Richardson, who has led SLDC for the past four years.

In October, when Spencer was still on the Board of Aldermen, she resigned from the city’s nonprofit development arm, citing internal dysfunction and a lack of transparency under Richardson’s leadership of the organization. The SLDC board on Thursday voted 6-1 in favor of Williams’ appointment.

Spencer commended Richardson in a written statement.

“I want to thank Neal Richardson for his service to SLDC and the City of St. Louis,” Spencer said. “SLDC serves an important purpose in our community, and I am grateful that Otis Williams has agreed to serve once again while we look for new permanent leadership that will ensure growth and transparency.”

During Thursday’s meeting, Richardson thanked Jones and expressed the importance of eliminating divides to continue working together. He’s championed initiatives aimed at revitalizing neighborhoods, like the creation of the North Side Economic Empowerment Center, which was created to support north city residents in starting and growing small businesses.

Richardson shared with board members Thursday that he was born in the city and grew up in north St. Louis, but spent a lot of time all over the city. Having a great staff is one of his proudest achievements, he said. What’s next for him is continuing to serve the city as needed, he added.

“It has been an absolute honor to serve the city of St. Louis,” Richardson said Thursday. “We’ve rebranded SLDC to be more community-centric, raising the voices of our community organizations, our nonprofits, to ensure that they not only understood how development worked, but also had their voices heard in the development process… The city of St. Louis cannot succeed if our mayor is not successful. We cannot continue to have this divisiveness within our city. We need to be unified.”

He shared his pride in the organization’s Economic Justice Action Plan, which he says brought a bold, unapologetic focus to equity, investing in people, places, and systems that have long been excluded from opportunity.

“The results speak for themselves,” Richardson said. “It has truly been one of the greatest honors of my life.”

In a joint statement, Ward 14 Alderman Rasheen Aldridge and Board of Aldermen President Megan Green commended Richardson for his leadership and efforts.

“In a political climate where equity is threatened and DEI programs are being dismantled, frameworks like Mr. Richardson’s Economic Justice Action Plan must be preserved to meet the needs of all neighborhoods — in particular those that have been intentionally ignored for decades,” Green said.

Williams could not be immediately reached for comment.

During his 22 years with the SLDC in various roles, Williams was known for facilitating huge projects in the city, including the development of Busch Stadium, Ballpark Village, the Cortex Innovation Community and the redevelopment of the old Arena site and City Hospital.

He also helped the city retain the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency’s western headquarters and pushed for the construction of the $1.75 billion facility.

Greater St. Louis, Inc. Interim CEO Dustin Allison commended the SLDC board and Spencer for Williams’ appointment.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Otis for years and know that he brings not only decades of experience to the position, but a lifetime of commitment and service to the improvement of our community,” Allison said. He said he looks forward to partnering with Williams and also thanked Richardson for his service.