Shari Williams-Clarke to lead Carl Maxey Center: ‘She understands this community’

Shari Williams-Clarke had always planned to spend her retirement volunteering at the Carl Maxey Center to support the vision of her friend Sandy Williams.

When Williams tragically died in a plane crash last year, Williams-Clarke’s resolve to further her friend’s vision only grew.

Williams-Clarke, no relation to Sandy Williams, took over Monday as executive director of the Carl Maxey Center.

“You’ll never replace Sandy. There’s only one Sandy Williams,” Williams-Clarke said. “I think what the rest of us need to do is carry on her vision and build on the foundation that has been set here.”

Williams was a longtime community advocate, activist and storyteller. She founded the Carl Maxey Center, along with the Black Lens, the region’s only Black newspaper. Located in Spokane’s East Central neighborhood, the Maxey Center is described on its website as “a community based organization that provides programs and services focused on addressing the needs of Spokane’s African American/Black community.”

Continuing to create and expand a safe, supportive space for Spokane’s Black community is more critical than ever as Black people are the targets of shootings, Black history is maligned in schools and police violence continues, Williams-Clarke said.

“I think more than ever, centers like this that provide opportunities for people to gather, to come together as a community, that are going to provide resources, services, focus on culture and economic development, are so crucial,” she said.

Williams-Clarke moved to Spokane in 2017 for a role as the vice president for diversity and senior diversity at Eastern Washington University, after decades of award-winning work in similar roles at universities across the country. She holds a PhD in education leadership and higher education from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Williams-Clarke’s leadership led to three Higher Education Excellence in Diversity awards recognizing her at a national level, including while at Eastern in 2018 and 2019.

Despite the success, her time at EWU had challenges. Her department was set to be consolidated in 2020 and her role eliminated, but the university quickly reversed course following community outcry, spurred in part by an article written by Williams in the Black Lens.

Not long after, someone at the university made an ethics complaint about Williams-Clarke using state property for personal gain. Her university email was found to have been used or CC’d on emails for her consulting business. She stipulated to a fine but said the complaint was a symptom of the difficult work environment she endured for six years.

“As a Black woman I have learned to survive in toxic, hostile environments,” Williams-Clarke said. “If I had not had the experience that I had … and known how good I was, I think that could have really defeated me.”

Williams-Clarke said EWU’s new president, Shari McMahan, has been lovely, and she trusts her leadership.

At the end of June, Williams-Clarke retired from EWU and plans to use her experience there to teach younger Black women how to survive and thrive in tough work settings. Williams-Clarke had always planned to dedicate her retirement to the Carl Maxey Center, but not in the role as executive director.

But all signs pointed to the job being the right move, Williams-Clarke said, noting she added her maiden name, Williams, to her married name, “so that I could keep Sandy’s name alive.”

“There were a lot of things that pointed to this role,” she said.

Sandy’s daughter, Renika Williams, now a board member at the center, agreed.

“I think my mom was a really approachable person that was able to listen to anyone’s story and hear where they are coming from, and we see similar abilities in Dr. Clarke,” she said. “Her ability to communicate and kind of bond and meet people in the community where they already are was something that was really important.”

Williams-Clarke already serves on a host of community boards – experience and connections she plans to draw on in her new role. She’s on the board of directors for the Downtown Spokane Partnership and is a community liaison for the Spokane Independent Investigative Response team, which investigates police shootings.

“I think she can navigate the rooms that are needed for navigating our future at the Carl Maxey center for growth,” said Curtis Hampton, founding board member.

City councilwoman and former board chair of the center Betsy Wilkerson agreed.

“She understands this community,” Wilkerson said. “If I had ordered her out of a Sears catalog, I couldn’t have gotten a better person.”

Williams-Clarke brings a focus on higher education, which is new to the center. She created EWU’s strategic plan for diversity and does diversity, equity and inclusion training for other organizations – skills and experiences Wilkerson thinks are helpful for the Maxey center.

“Dr. Clarke is the perfect person for this position,” Wilkerson said. “She comes to us with her leadership in higher education, training, community engagements – and she loves Spokane.”

Williams-Clarke spent her first week listening to the community and getting to know the Maxey Center staff.

She’s planning a mixer with community partners and gearing up to staff the Maxey Center’s booth at Pig Out in the Park. She hopes people will email her their hopes, dreams and plans for the center at drshari@carlmaxeycenter.org and stop by to meet her.