Mark K. Williams

President and Managing Shareholder

Mark is from Robbinsville, North Carolina. He attended Western Carolina University where he was a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi, Student Government President and obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree, magna cum laude, in 1981. He obtained a Juris Doctor Degree from Duke University School of Law in 1984 and joined the firm in 1985, becoming a shareholder in 1990 and President and Managing Shareholder in 1998. Mark has achieved an AV Martindale-Hubbell peer review rating (highest rating).

Mark is admitted to practice in the States of Tennessee and North Carolina and before the U.S. District Court, Eastern Division of Tennessee and the U.S. Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit. His primary practice areas are Corporate Law, Commercial Law, Real Estate Law and Mergers and Acquisitions. He is a member of the Tennessee, North Carolina, Knoxville, Buncombe County (NC) and American Bar Associations. Mark is a Rule 31 Listed Mediator in the field of General Civil Mediation.

Mark is very involved in community activities and currently chairs the board of Friends of Young-Williams Animal Center. He was honored as Chair Emeritus of Young-Williams Animal Center, which bears his name and that of Lindsay Young, a co-founder of the firm. Mark is a former chair and director of Friends of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park as well as the Mercy Health Partners Foundation. He also serves as a director and Secretary of The Aslan Foundation and a director of the Frank H. McClung Museum. Mark was a founding director of The Knoxville Botanical Gardens and Arboretum, a member of the University of Tennessee Chancellor’s Associates, founding President of Sequoyah Hills Preservation Society, chair of the East Tennessee Foundation, a director of the Knoxville Area Chamber Partnership and a member of the Leadership Knoxville Class of 1999. Mark has also served on the boards of the Knoxville Zoo, The Historic Tennessee Theatre Foundation and The Wellness Community of East Tennessee among others.

Mark is married to Kristin Williams who owns a graphic design and advertising studio, Kristin Designs, Inc. Mark and Kristin have a daughter, Anna Bryn Williams who attends Sequoyah Hills Elementary School. Mark, Kristin and Anna Bryn are members of St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral.