Susan Brock Williams
Associate Vice President, State Government Affairs for Eli Lilly and Company
Susan Brock Williams has nearly 30 years of experience in state government and government relations. In May 2023, she was named Associate Vice President, State Government Relations for Eli Lilly and Company. For close to 19 years before that, Susan served as Director Government Relations for her alma mater, Purdue University, representing the institution before the Indiana General Assembly and state government. She received a B.A. in Political Science from Purdue University and law degree from Indiana University’s Robert H. McKinney School of Law in Indianapolis.
Upon graduation from Purdue, Williams was chosen as one of ten Governor’s Fellows and served in various state agencies and the Governor’s Office as part of Governor Evan Bayh’s administration. As a part-time law student, Susan served as the Legislative Liaison and Director of Special Projects for the State Emergency Management Agency and Department of Fire and Building Services. She went on to serve as the Legislative Director for the Office of the Attorney General under Pamela L. Carter, the nation’s first African American woman to be elected as a state Attorney General.
During her four years of law school, Susan was a recipient of the full-ride Willard B. Gemmill Law Scholarship of the Community Foundation of Grant County, Indiana, Inc. Soon after law school graduation, Susan served six years as Director – State Government Relations for Ameritech (now AT&T) before temporarily leaving the workforce to care for her children full-time for three years prior to representing Purdue.
Susan has been active in her community. She was a member of the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Series (Class XX), honored as Indianapolis Business Journal’s (IBJ) Forty under 40 recipient in 2005, and awarded as an Influential Woman by the IBJ in 2008. She was selected and completed the FBI Citizens Academy in 2015. She served as Chair of the Lacy Leadership Association Board of Directors, Chair of the Indianapolis Public Library Foundation Board of Directors, and twice as President of the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Indiana Board of Directors, which successfully completed a $7M capital campaign and the opening of a new agency headquarters on Meridian Street in Indianapolis. She still actively serves on the Board. Susan currently serves as the Governance Chair and Executive Committee member of the Washington Township Schools Foundation and is the Mayoral appointee and President of the Indianapolis Economic Development Commission. She also serves as Chair of the Indiana Area Board of Directors for the American Cancer Society and is a member of the Board of Directors of the International Violin Competition of Indianapolis.
Williams and her husband, Brian, have three adult children (Max, Owen and Ava) and reside in Brian’s childhood home along the White River located north of Broad Ripple. Susan enjoys all kinds of music, singing, and travel.