Williams Of North Hampton Running For Winnacunnet School Board

By Tracy Emerton Williams

NORTH HAMPTON, NH — My name is Tracy Emerton Williams, and I am very excited to announce my candidacy for the Winnacunnet School Board.

I have been a resident of North Hampton for over 50 years and am a proud graduate of both North Hampton Elementary School (NHES) (1977) and Winnacunnet High School (WHS) (1981). After graduating WHS, I went to Bentley College (now Bentley University) (1987) in Waltham, MA, where I received my Bachelor of Science (BS) in Computer Information Systems (CIS). I currently own and operate a successful small business called PACT Consulting LLC., that provides specialized professional services in information technology to state governments. Areas of specialties that we provide state governments are cybersecurity, state government systems project management, and organizational change management.

My career in Information Technology (IT) started in Hampton in 1982 and eventually led me to Rhode Island, where I served as the Assistant State Court Administrator for Technology at the Rhode Island State Supreme Court. From there, I went on to become the state Chief Information Officer where I led the Division of Information Technology (DoIT), an organization of 220 employees, and $100M budget.

Our two children graduated from WHS, and our son greatly benefited from the US Marine Corps Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (USMC JROTC) program and went on to graduate from the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and now serves as a Captain in the US Marines Corps. Our daughter graduated from Winnacunnet and went on to graduate from the Harvard Extension School and now works for Harvard University in development and fundraising.

I have been contributing to our local community by serving as past president and a board member of the Hampton Academy/Winnacunnet High School (HAWHS) Alumni Association. Our nonprofit organization provides scholarships to WHS seniors whose parents are also WHS alumni and most recently we funded the construction of the HAWHS Alumni Pavillion located outside the cafeteria at WHS.

I believe education sets us up for success and I can trace the success in my career and in life, back to my experiences at NHES and WHS and the teachers that I was privileged to learn from. I learned from unforgettable teachers. I learned about working on teams and leadership from Bob Devantery, about our country’s history from Kevin Fleming, and about computers from Bruce Carrier, art and design by Jill Berry.

I want to serve on the Winnacunnet School Board to “meet the moment” and help develop programs and partnerships that support all pathways through WHS and to contribute my unique background in solving problems facing our school district. In particular, I want to be an example to our female students that they can be successful in the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields and want to work on behalf of students of all abilities.

I respectfully ask the voters in Hampton, Hampton Falls, North Hampton, and Seabrook for their support and their votes on town election day, on March 11, 2025.

Contact Info: Tracy.williams@pactnh.com 129 Walnut Ave, North Hampton, NH 03862, 401-623-7325

What would be your top three priorities if you are elected? *

1. Safety at the school, including both cyber and physical - we live in an age of dangerous individuals and countries, and we have to maintain alertness in order to keep our staff and students safe - my background in cybersecurity and State of New Hampshire and federal regulations compliances makes me uniquely qualified to support WHS
2. Public schools are becoming the last remnant of communal America where every person's capabilities should be developed and supported. Our public schools are just that "public" which means everyone in SAU21
3. I will broaden the outreach of the school into the private, public, military and other sectors that help our students and teachers

What are your views about diversity, equity and inclusion in schools?*

DEI is important to our community, and I am a perfect example of this - in 1977 when I started as a freshman at WHS there was no soccer program for girls, ending my sports involvement, there was no equity in the schools back then. Without Title IX this would still be the same for current students.

WHS prepared me to go into computer science by installing a lab of TRS-80s in 1980 — without this initial exposure I wouldn't have gone onto college to get a STEM degree.

What else should voters know about you?*

I am a product of public schools (North Hampton and Winnacunnet High School) and have gone onto a successful career in information technology, serving as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) for the State of Rhode Island and the Assistant State Court Administrator for the Rhode Island State Supreme Court and most recently as the New Hampshire State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program and the NH FIRST Modernization Program.

I am also a lifelong resident of North Hampton and I am prepared on day 1 to go to work for our collective community.

Tracy Emerton Williams lives in North Hampton.