Zak Williams is a passionate global mental health advocate, entrepreneur, father, professional speaker, and son of beloved actor and comedian, Robin Williams. He focuses his time, expertise, and resources on sharing his personal journey from pain to purpose in order to support initiatives and campaigns seeking to remove the stigma... Read more
Zak Williams is a passionate global mental health advocate, entrepreneur, father, professional speaker, and son of beloved actor and comedian, Robin Williams. He focuses his time, expertise, and resources on sharing his personal journey from pain to purpose in order to support initiatives and campaigns seeking to remove the stigma of discussions aligned with mental health challenges, addressing any discrimination associated and creating access to quality care for all in need.
Zak is CEO and co-founder of anxiety relief neurotransmitter nutrition company PYM and is an investor in technology and consumer packaged goods companies. Formerly, he was COO of the recommendation platform Crossing Minds, the Director of Business Development for media company Condé Nast, and the marketing lead for gaming and media platform N3TWORK.
Zak Williams is a U.S. trustee of United for Global Mental Health and board member of mental health awareness and advocacy non-profit, Bring Change 2 Mind, founded by Glenn Close. He is an advisor for Inseparable, a national organization innovating pragmatic mental health policy and a board member for Yerba Buena Center of the Arts, where he focuses on guiding the organizations’ strategy and business development initiatives.
In 2020, Zak was proud to be key note speaker at a reception at the United Nations General Assembly where he announced the launch the #SpeakYourMind campaign, a global mental health movement intended to amplify the needs of underserved communities, too often unseen and unheard.
In 2021 Oprah Winfrey and Prince Harry featured Zak’s life journey including the pain of loss, grief, recovery, and living with anxiety along with those of others including Lady Gaga and Prince Harry in a ground breaking documentary series on Apple TV+ entitled “The Me You Can’t See”.
In 2022, Zak Williams and Congressman Seth Moulton, co-chair of the House Armed Services Committee’s Future of Defense Task Force authored, “How 988 Will Transform America’s Approach to Mental Health” for Time Magazine. Currently, Zak is the co-executive producer with Lemonada Media of the podcast series, “Call For Help”, examining the promise and perils of the new 988 Hotline. The Office of the Secretary, US Dept. of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA just engaged Zak to be featured in PSA’s launching the 988 initiative nationwide.
Zak Williams earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BA in Linguistics from New York University.