Jere A. “Buddy” Willams
Williams Named New TxDOT District Engineer in Atlanta
Jere A. “Buddy” Williams, P.E., has been selected as the new district engineer for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) office in Atlanta, effective June 1, 2020. He replaces Mike Anderson, P.E., who retired in May.
In his new role, Williams will oversee the planning, design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the nine-county Atlanta District’s state transportation system. He comes to Atlanta from the Materials and Tests Division in Austin, where he has served as its director since 2019.
Williams, a native of Clarksville, Texas, started his career with TxDOT in 1987 as a summer intern for the Clarksville Maintenance Section. Later, he served as a summer intern in the Paris Residency in the Paris District. After earning his bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering from Texas A&M University in May 1990, Williams accepted a full-time position in the Atlanta District’s Texarkana Area Office. He obtained his professional engineering license and was named Assistant Area Engineer.
In 2006, Williams was named the project engineer for the $153 million I-30 reconstruction project in Texarkana—to date, the largest construction project ever awarded in the Atlanta District. From March 2013 until July 2018, Buddy served as the Atlanta District’s Director of Construction. In July 2018, Williams became the Deputy Director for the TxDOT Construction Division in Austin.
In 2019, TxDOT appointed Williams as the Director of the Materials and Tests Division. In this role, Buddy oversaw the department’s statewide quality monitoring and quality assurance programs by developing material specifications and test procedures. Williams said he is looking forward to returning to Northeast Texas
The Atlanta District includes Bowie, Camp, Cass, Harrison, Marion, Morris, Panola, Titus and Upshur Counties.