Kelly Williams: At the Intersection of Corporate Success and Community Service
BY CARA MILLER ’03
When Kelly Williams BA ’93, MBA ’21 spoke at the 2022 AU Career Day, he emphasized the importance of tenacity and flexibility. No matter a person’s circumstance, he said, success comes from hard work and an openness to unexpected opportunities. And don’t forget to help others along the way.
For Williams, this advice has been the catalyst of his own success for more than 30 years. “While it wasn’t always a scripted career path, I never let the fear of a new opportunity guide me,” he says.
Now the CEO and shareholder of Compactor Rentals of America, Williams began as an AU basketball player and physical education major. He fondly recalls bus rides with teammates, discussions of faith, and one particular game at Hanover that was nearly canceled due to bad weather. Williams says. “As we walked out to the floor for tip-off, I looked into the stands and saw only two people there for Anderson—my mom and dad.”
Despite his plans to teach, Williams was offered a position with Budget Rent-A-Car in Indianapolis and quickly climbed the ranks to executive leadership, relocating several times. “I didn’t know much about business,” Williams says, “but it had so many similarities to playing on a basketball team that I found my passion.”
Williams moved to Phoenix in 2014 to work with Mobile Mini, the nation’s leading portable storage provider, eventually taking over the role of CEO and president and leading a corporate merger that nearly doubled the company’s size. In the meantime, Williams returned to AU for his MBA, and that experience has served him well as he focuses on the continued growth of Compactor Rentals of America.
While he is grateful for so many blessings, including the support of his wife and two daughters, Williams realizes that not everyone has been so fortunate. That is why he also seizes opportunities to serve his community—both in Arizona and Indiana. For instance, Williams is an auxiliary board member for the Tipton Boys and Girls Club and recently established the Boys and Girls Club of Tipton County and Mr. Robert Williams Scholarship Fund at AU in honor of his dad, who passed away from COVID-19 in 2020. The scholarship’s first recipient will attend Anderson University this fall.
“Community involvement resonates into the culture of every great company I’ve been a part of,” he says. “Giving back allows for opportunities that otherwise might not exist.”
Anderson University educates students for lives of faith and service, offering more than 50 undergraduate majors, 30 three-year degrees, 20 NCAA Division III intercollegiate sports, alongside adult and graduate programs. The private, liberal arts institution is fully accredited and recognized for excellence in business, computer science, cybersecurity, engineering, music, nursing, psychology, and teacher education programs. Established in 1917 in Anderson, Indiana, by the Church of God, the university remains committed to its Christ-centered mission.