In the past decade, Maryland state employee Chad Williams has been the subject of a federal investigation over his handling of sexual harassment complaints at a Nevada housing authority; has himself been accused of sexual harassment at two different workplaces; and was convicted of domestic violence while actively leading an agency in Baltimore.
Yet he still sits as executive director of the West North Avenue Development Authority (WNADA) as more allegations of workplace misconduct surface in Baltimore — a job he got despite numerous prior media reports about his alleged misconduct, sexual harassment allegations, and the Nevada housing authority ostensibly forcing him out of his position.
Members of the 20-person governing board overseeing WNADA have remained mum on the matter despite multiple requests for comment from Baltimore Beat. Those members include two state officials who sponsored the legislation to create the authority.
“What he has is … power, and what we’ve experienced is an extreme abuse of that power,” said Keyonna Penick, a former chief of staff and special assistant at WNADA who was with the organization for about 1 ½ years. “And if [he’s] left in that position, it will only get worse.”
Williams became the authority’s founding executive director in 2022, tasked with building the agency from the ground up, creating a redevelopment plan for the West North Avenue corridor, and overseeing millions of dollars in funding.
In the roughly three years he has helmed the agency, public officials have lauded his work to redevelop an area that has experienced disinvestment for decades. In February, the Baltimore Sun named him a “Black Marylander to Watch,” highlighting his efforts coordinating state and city planning to benefit West Baltimore.
Before Baltimore knew his face, however, he faced a barrage of misconduct allegations at previous jobs.
In 2014, he was accused of sexual harassment “while serving as a board member for The Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington in Washington, D.C.,” according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “The accusation cost him his seat, but Williams has said that an investigation launched by the nonprofit coalition eventually discredited the claims,” the outlet reported.
Williams filed a civil suit against the woman who made the accusation, claiming she “falsely accused him of sexual harassment after she abruptly left the Roundtable last July,” the Washington Business Journal reported in 2015. A D.C. Superior Court judge dismissed most counts in the civil suit.
“Williams also claims he was wrongly ousted from the board a few months later by now-former chairman Russell Snyder. And Williams alleged that Snyder, CEO of Volunteers of America-Chesapeake, illegally terminated his consulting contract with that organization,” the article states.
Six years later in Las Vegas, sexual harassment and age discrimination complaints against Williams, then executive director of the Southern Nevada Regional Housing Authority, led to more than $125,000 in settlements with two women, the Review-Journal reported.
The housing authority’s board was one vote shy of firing Williams in July 2019 after an independent investigation found he violated personnel policy by engaging in a personal relationship with a subordinate that could appear as a conflict of interest, but did not find evidence of sexual harassment. He was put on a six-month probation and required to attend ethics training, the Review-Journal reported.
Still, board members were cautious after it was determined that Williams lied about the extent and duration of his relationship with the employee.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development also investigated the authority’s handling of sexual misconduct complaints against Theodore Tulle, the chief operating officer, under Williams’ tenure, the outlet reported. Williams told staff in an email he had known Tulle “personally and professionally” for 15 years before his hiring. In February 2021, six months before the Review-Journal reported the news of the federal investigation, Williams was put on administrative leave until his contract expired that June.
“One of the agency’s board members later said an investigator’s findings were critical of Executive Director Chad Williams, according to an email obtained by the Review-Journal,” the outlet reported.
The results of that investigation remain unknown.
Less than a year into his employment by the state of Maryland, court records show Williams was charged with misdemeanor and felony battery charges in Las Vegas after being arrested on New Year’s Day for “punching a sleeping woman, throwing her to the ground and kicking her in the ribs and face,” the Review-Journal reported. The woman was bruised and had dried blood on her face when police arrived after a 911 caller nearby reported hearing a woman crying and yelling “stop” inside the house, according to the article. The woman told police that Williams stopped her from calling 911.
The charges included misdemeanor battery constituting domestic violence and two felony charges: coercion constituting domestic violence and battery resulting in substantial bodily harm constituting domestic violence, according to court documents.
Court records show he pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge in March of this year, after initially pleading not guilty to all the charges. The other charges were later dropped. A court document signed by the judge on April 7 stated that she found him guilty of the misdemeanor, giving him a suspended sentence of 180 days in Clark County Detention Center and ordering him to fulfill 45 hours of community service and 26 weeks of domestic violence counseling.
The suspended sentence means he will not serve time in jail if he fulfills the requirements, which include probation.
Meanwhile, as he fought the Las Vegas court case over the last two years, several former WNADA employees in Baltimore — all women — allege he has harassed, stalked, and illegally retaliated against employees since at least 2023.
In the last month, these employees have accused Williams of targeting and humiliating women on the job, allegedly stalking one woman, and manipulating the grant process to favor certain entities.
In the last month, these employees have accused Williams of targeting and humiliating women on the job, allegedly stalking one woman, and manipulating the grant process to favor certain entities.
In an April 7 email sent to a long list of city and state officials, board members, former staff, and media, Penick, the former chief of staff and special assistant, detailed misconduct by Williams and called for his firing. The email has seemingly connected the women, who previously were not in regular contact with each other but found similarities in their treatment and were then emboldened to speak out.
Since then, Penick and three other former WNADA employees, all of whom are Black women with decades of experience in housing, government and related jobs, have told the Beat that Williams frequently engaged in inappropriate conduct on the job. In many cases, the women backed up each other’s stories and descriptions of Williams’ leadership. One woman filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and another woman is pursuing legal action.
Penick, who joined WNADA in 2023 and was fired last month because of alleged performance issues, sat in on multiple meetings with Williams and the women.
She says that not only was she treated as incompetent — she vehemently denies being unable to do her job, as a state employee of almost 18 years, and instead blames Williams’ poor leadership — but she also witnessed weaponized terminations, abusive power dynamics and an increasingly hostile work culture.
At a staff retreat in April 2024, Williams verbally berated an employee in front of other staff members, bringing her to tears, Penick said. She also alleged that Williams frequently talked down to employees, specifically women.
In addition, he allegedly made threats to employees, mentioning that Maryland was an “at-will” state and that he had the power to fire employees and change salaries.
In her April 7 email, Penick also warned of the steps the executive director would take to discredit her and the other women:
“Here’s how it will play out because it’s played out before:
- The Narrative Shift: I will be painted as unqualified, difficult, or insubordinate.
- Performative Moves: Sudden hiring or public gestures to ‘prove’ diversity and inclusion.
- The Silence Strategy: No one will openly discuss it, and leadership will move quickly to erase any mention of my work.
- The Next Target: Someone else will become the new scapegoat— the spotlight is on, but it’s only a matter of time.
- The Cycle Continues: The board remains complicit, and leadership remains unchecked.”
“I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my own silence in the past. There were times when I saw the writing on the wall but convinced myself it wasn’t my fight. I needed my job. I justified my inaction, just as many of us do when survival takes precedence over principle. I won’t make that mistake again,” Penick wrote later in the email.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge my own silence in the past. There were times when I saw the writing on the wall but convinced myself it wasn’t my fight. I needed my job. I justified my inaction, just as many of us do when survival takes precedence over principle. I won’t make that mistake again.”
Keyonna Penick, former chief of staff and special assistant at WNADA
Randi Williams, a contracted green space development and environmental health officer for WNADA, was the recipient of the director’s alleged verbal abuse at the April 2024 retreat. (She has no relation to Chad Williams.)
She worked for WNADA from August 2023 to June 2024. After she was fired, she filed a complaint with the EEOC last year and has also called for the director to resign, alleging she was “discriminated against because of my sex (female) and disability,” according to the complaint.
“The denial of my reasonable accommodation and the inconsistent treatment regarding PTO align with a broader pattern of disparate treatment of my time as a Female employee at WNADA,” the complaint reads. “I am preparing to present evidence and responses below, including patterns of decision-making and relevant personnel records, to demonstrate that as a Female employee I was subjected to less favorable terms and conditions of employment compared to Male employees within the company.”
The matter is currently under investigation. WNADA denied the allegations in its response to the EEOC complaint, according to documents obtained by the Beat.
Randi Williams said Penick’s email helped validate her story and encouraged her to speak out. She not only alleged workplace harassment, but she also emphasized her concerns about the executive director appearing to have stalked her.
At the April 2024 staff retreat, Randi Williams inquired about H&H Realty Group, an eco-friendly housing company that received $750,000 in grant funding from WNADA, despite not meeting the scoring threshold used to determine whether entities are eligible for money.
Both Randi Williams and Penick separately told Baltimore Beat that Chad Williams called the question disingenuous and “out of line,” verbally attacking her for repeatedly bringing up the grant and potential issues with it. In tears, Randi Williams explained that she was never notified that she was ever acting inappropriately.
After the incident at the retreat, Randi Williams took approved time off for mental health reasons. Upon learning of this, the executive director allegedly called numerous people, including her friends, to learn where exactly she was staying during her time off. He also docked four days’ pay, totaling more than $1,000.
Later on, she said, she would see the executive director’s car in her neighborhood, even though he should not know where she lived.
“This is what happens when women get harassed and go unanswered,” Randi Williams said. “I fear for my life. And I can no longer walk around in fear because that man is out there existing, getting paid, and he’s gotten raises.”
Williams said she believed in the work that WNADA is tasked with. It’s what compelled her to join the organization and put her years of experience — which includes founding a company focusing on eco-friendly affordable housing — to work. As a PhD student at Morgan State University, where she studies architecture, urbanism and built environments, focusing on the environment and West Baltimore, WNADA felt like the perfect outlet for her to give back to the community.
Instead, the executive director ensured the spotlight was on him, she said.
“This is about West Baltimore,” Randi Williams said. “This ain’t about you.”
Shortly after the women shared their stories with the Beat, Randi Williams and Penick received a peace order filed by Chad Williams alleging they conspired to harm or kill him, based on the word of a man neither woman had heard of. Chad Williams did not appear at the April 16 hearing, so the case was dismissed. The women called the filing another one of his intimidation tactics.
In the peace order against Penick, Chad Williams claimed that a man “called petitioner to inform him that Randi Williams and another recent former employee (Keyonna Penick) are seeking to kill/harm petitioner.”
In the peace order against Randi Williams, it was alleged she “threatened to kill petitioner” in June 2024, after being terminated. It also claims she said she wanted to “shoot petitioner’s car up with the intent of killing him” in October of that year.
Finally, it alleges that both women were “seeking individuals to kill petitioner.”
After Chad Williams failed to attend the hearing, Randi Williams told the Beat she has filed her own peace order against him, saying she is “tired of living in fear and him abusing his power as a public official.” He has since been served with the peace order, a deputy confirmed to her.
In her April 7 email, Penick wrote about previous warnings board members and others received about Williams.
“Many of you recall the unsettling email we received on Wednesday, May 8, 2024, from a former colleague of the Executive Director (ED), warning us about the Executive Director’s behavior and past transgressions.”
“‘I can’t understand how this clown does all this and still finds ways to be employed in the same environment … Go do your research on his tenure at the housing authority in Las Vegas. He gave allllllll them girls raises that were not justified and fired a couple brothas, unwarranted terminations too,’” Penick quoted from the email.
Chad Williams did not respond to multiple requests for comment about the women’s allegations. Teresa Stephens, WNADA’s public affairs officer, initially indicated the authority, including Williams, planned to comment on the matter. Following the peace order, she declined to comment, calling it a personnel matter.
The Beat asked all of WNADA’s 20 governing board members whether they knew about the prior sexual misconduct allegations against Williams, the federal investigation in Nevada, and the battery charges. The Beat also asked whether those allegations, in addition to ongoing reports of misconduct and calls to resign, would lead to any disciplinary action.
Governor Wes Moore and Mayor Brandon Scott, who sit on the board, declined to comment. The remaining board members either declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.
Those on the board who did not respond include Senator Antonio Hayes and Delegate Marlon Amprey, who sponsored state legislation that would benefit WNADA by allowing it to avoid regular procurement rules in 2023. The bill was signed into law by Moore.
Meanwhile, as they remain silent, the authority is overseeing tens of millions of dollars in funds.
WNADA is a state agency created in 2021 by bills sponsored by Amprey and Hayes, both West Baltimore Democrats, to revitalize the West North Avenue corridor, which has seen decades of disinvestment. At a June 2023 funding announcement, Moore, Amprey, Hayes, and former City Council President Nick Mosby were exuberant about the work WNADA could do.
“You aren’t just looking at housing, you aren’t just looking at transportation, you aren’t just looking at economic development, you are looking at all three at once, and that’s how we achieve a societal build-up. That’s how we transform communities,” Moore said. “By saying, ‘We don’t have to pick — we can do it all.’ That’s how we build communities.”
Hayes added that the agency would serve as a vehicle of “fundamental change” in West Baltimore.
“There’s a lot happening, and this is a good time for West Baltimore, whether it’s the redevelopment of TouchPoint over at Mondawmin by Tim Regan, the transformational change that we’re going to see in Druid Hill Park and a $15 million investment that we made over there, or the 40-something-million-dollar brand new business school that we’re doing right here at Coppin State University, the West North Avenue authority was an idea to bring all of that together under one vision,” Hayes said.
In a press release last month, WNADA boasted that it has invested $12.2 million in the area through numerous grants so far this year. In the past two years, it has invested $21.2 million to develop the corridor.
Despite these controversies playing out behind the scenes, the authority itself has been lauded as a crucial organization in West Baltimore. Legislation that the governor signed on April 22 establishes the authority as a permanent entity and sets a goal for it to be self-sustaining by 2028. Dozens of individuals testified in favor of the bill and in support of the organization’s work in hearings, including representatives from local nonprofits and universities.
Despite these controversies playing out behind the scenes, the authority itself has been lauded as a crucial organization in West Baltimore.
“Having lived in the greater neighborhood and having worked for two Baltimore Mayors, I have seen West Baltimore neighborhoods suffer the impact of neglect. The Bolton Hill, Marble Hill and Madison Park neighborhoods have been divided historically and socially by the Eutaw Place Median (the ‘Red Line’ which ran from North Avenue to Dolphin). We view our work with the West North Avenue Development Authority as helping to bridge that divide,” Lee Tawney, president of the Bolton Hill Community Association, wrote.
Daniel Ellis, CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of Baltimore, echoed the importance of WNADA in supporting the organization’s mission to remove barriers of access to homeownership.
“We have had the privilege of working with the West North Avenue Development Authority (WNADA) over the past 3 years. It has been extremely helpful to have a unified plan for West North Avenue that considers all the previously developed plans and to also have coordinated funding needed to implement those plans,” Ellis wrote.
Anthony Jenkins, president of Coppin State University and a WNADA board member, wrote in his testimony that WNADA has made “major” investments in the West North Avenue corridor, commending Williams by name.
“Under the leadership of Executive Director Chad Williams, funding support from Governor Wes Moore, and Senator Antonio Hayes’s vision, the West North Avenue Development Authority’s efforts are making a meaningful impact on the targeted communities between educational anchor institutions, Coppin State University (CSU) and the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA),” Jenkins wrote.
The praise is a stark contrast to the allegations made against Williams.
Two other women who spoke to the Beat requested anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the subject. One of them said she feared for her life.
“Jane” was one of the first employees at WNADA, hired in 2022. She was working with Williams when he was arrested on the battery charges in January 2023.
She felt uncomfortable working under Williams, knowing he was charged with battery against his girlfriend at the time, a concern shared by at least one other employee, she said. Williams called her from Las Vegas to tell her he was locked up after she hadn’t heard from him, she said.
At a staff orientation event in 2023, Williams addressed the allegations against him in Las Vegas, allegedly bragging that he had good lawyers who could get him off, she said.
Still, she had to pick up Williams’ slack, she said. After the incident, he was difficult to reach for months. Yet Williams downplayed her work and was repeatedly hostile and condescending toward her, eventually firing her for alleged performance issues in November 2023, Jane said.
She denied any assertions she couldn’t do her job, telling the Beat she has more than 20 years of experience in her field.
Williams threatened to fire her on the spot rather than give her a final two weeks at the job if she went to the board about it, she said. If she spoke out, she feared that he would attempt to sabotage her unemployment benefits.
“I see so many things he got away with for that entire year,” Jane said. It didn’t help that to her knowledge, no one on the board or in the community fought for her.
“I just thought that he was invincible. Nothing’s going to happen to him. I was out of a job after that for about six months.”
“I see so many things he got away with for that entire year…I just thought that he was invincible. Nothing’s going to happen to him.”
“Jane,” one of the first employees at WNADA
The other woman, “Doe,” who fears retaliation by Williams, said she is attempting to pursue legal action after being told an EEOC complaint was not an option. In a tense situation between herself and Williams that left her perplexed, she was forced to resign after being told they planned to fire her because of poor job performance, even though she argued she went “above and beyond” to ensure the organization got what it needed.
Doe joined WNADA in 2023, coming into the job with more than five years of experience in state and city government roles, where she received “excellent” performance reviews, she said.
While she was employed between 2023 and 2024, Doe alleged she witnessed Williams make inappropriate comments to a Hispanic woman on staff regarding her heritage, singling her out amid a group of employees.
On one occasion, Williams allegedly commented on Doe sitting with her legs crossed, claiming that the style in which she was sitting indicated she was promiscuous. The comment made her feel “disgusted,” she said.
In a whistleblower complaint filed to the Maryland Department of Budget and Management and copied in a letter to WNADA by Doe’s lawyer, she also alleged that Williams manipulated the grant process to favor some entities.
On November 30, 2023, Williams “explicitly indicated that certain applicants were pre-determined to receive funding. This statement was made in the presence of multiple staff members, including [Redacted]. [Redacted] perceived these remarks as unethical and indicative of predetermined outcomes which could potentially manipulate the grant process.”
On January 12, 2024, “Mr. Williams allegedly manipulated the scoring of applicants to favor certain entities, specifically emphasizing the inclusion of [Baltimore Arts Realty Corp]. [Redacted] reported this incident as a misuse of authority and a potential violation of procurement ethics. This manipulation was directly observed by [redacted] during a meeting where applicant scores were discussed and altered.”
Randi Williams, who was also at that meeting, told the Beat the executive director was “always saying shit like that to me.”
BARCO did not respond to requests for comment about whether the organization has a relationship with Chad Williams outside of his role as director of WNADA.
On February 1, 2024, Doe emailed Gov. Moore, “outlining her observations and concerns about potential unethical practices and pressures related to job security contingent on compliance with these practices.”
“During a conversation with Randi Williams, Mr. Chad Williams stated, ‘If you want your job, then BARCO must be added.’ This statement, which I perceive as a threat to job security, is related to the scoring of applicants for funding to complete projects in West Baltimore. I believe this behavior contravenes state policy,” the email read.
“I am making this statement in good faith and out of a sense of duty as an employee of the State of Maryland. I trust that this matter will be handled with the seriousness it deserves.”
Moore’s office did not respond, she said.
“I am making this statement in good faith and out of a sense of duty as an employee of the State of Maryland. I trust that this matter will be handled with the seriousness it deserves.”
Moore’s office did not respond, she said.
Shortly after Doe raised concerns about the incidents, Williams filed a negative employee evaluation about her, and she was put on a performance improvement plan, she said. She appealed the disciplinary measures to no avail.
The situation ended with Doe forced out of the agency, with her pleas seemingly ignored. The fact that she was forced to either resign or be fired was not just an abuse of power, she said. It was a decisive action that upended her life.
“I was stressed out. I was at that time facing my lease ending,” Doe said. “I didn’t have a job. It was my worst nightmare. I literally wound up homeless — I’ve never been homeless in my entire life. It was so bad, but I’m so glad [Penick] spoke out in this way.”
“Everyone turned a blind eye to this stuff,” Doe added. “What about accountability? What about the lives he ruined?”
Penick’s email spoke to the women’s aspirations to revitalize West Baltimore — a mission that felt futile under Williams’ leadership, they alleged.
For decades, the corridor has experienced debilitating disinvestment and neglect, leaving communities in dire need of resources. Jane said the employees were excited to bring change to the community and better the lives of its residents.
Yet Williams’ alleged intimidation tactics and ability to avoid consequences in the past created an environment where they feared retaliation if they spoke out publicly, even when board members and others failed to address their concerns.
“I know this may sound like the usual complaints from a former employee or something easy to dismiss. But I urge you to pay attention. If you turn a blind eye now, understand that the next time— and there will be a next time— it will fall at your feet,” Penick wrote in her April 7 email.
“I know this may sound like the usual complaints from a former employee or something easy to dismiss. But I urge you to pay attention. If you turn a blind eye now, understand that the next time— and there will be a next time— it will fall at your feet.”
Keyonna Penick, former chief of staff and special assistant at WNADA
“It will be your complicity, and it will confirm every cynical belief the public holds about government: that you do not care, that accountability is just a talking point, and that the people you serve are an afterthought.”