Phil Williams and Dr. Glenda Glover
NASHVILLE, TN — Phil Williams is chief investigative reporter for NewsChannel 5’s nationally award-winning investigative team.
To gauge Phil’s impact, consider this quote from a prominent Nashville political strategist: “If the press calls, call your PR person. If Phil Williams calls, call your lawyer because you’re in trouble.” That statement, of course, is an exaggeration. (Phil’s really a nice guy.) Still, it shows how he’s made a big difference in this place he calls home.
For more than three decades, Phil has set the standard for serious investigative journalism on the state and local level, making a difference in his community year after year and earning him the industry’s highest honors and praise from his peers.
Phil is the 2023 recipient of the prestigious John Chancellor Award for Excellence in Journalism, which is presented each year to a reporter with courage, character and integrity for cumulative professional accomplishments. Phil is the first local television journalist to ever receive the honor. In addition, Phil is a four-time recipient of the prestigious duPont-Columbia Award and a three-time recipient of the George Foster Peabody Award.
He is the only TV journalist to ever receive a coveted Toner Prize for political reporting.
Beginning his career as a print reporter, Phil was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.
In 2020, a Washington Post media critic listed Phil’s work as one of the “flickers of hope for local journalism.” Reviewing one of Phil’s most recent projects, one judge declared: “This is what a great local news investigation looks like.”
Another observed, “I’m blown away by these pieces and will be using them to teach.”
Phil’s hard-hitting, exhaustive journalism has resulted in him being repeatedly listed among the most influential people in Nashville and the state of Tennessee.
Born in Columbia, TN, Phil moved to Nashville in his teen years. An honors graduate from Middle Tennessee State University, Phil frequently speaks to journalism students about his passion for investigative reporting.
Dr. Glenda Baskin Glover, Ph.D., JD, CPA serves as President of Tennessee State University in Nashville, Tennessee, a position she has held since January 2013. Under her leadership as the university’s first female president, TSU has experienced a significant increase in enrollment, alumni fundraising, research dollars and academic offerings.
Dr. Glenda Glover, is a certified public accountant, an attorney, and is one of two African American women to hold the Ph.D-CPA-JD combination in the country. Her past employment also includes high level positions in the corporate sector as she is among few women to rise to the heights to serve on corporate boards of publicly traded corporations. Currently, she serves as Lead Director of Pinnacle Financial Partners. In 2022, President Joe Biden appointed Dr. Glover to serve as Vice Chair of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).
Dr. Glover’s prior board experience includes The Student Loan Corporation- a publicly traded subsidiary of Citigroup, First Guaranty Bankshares, and The Lenox Group, Inc. On these boards, she served either as Financial Expert, Chair of the Audit Committee, or Chair of the compensation Committee. Dr. Glover is a frequently sought keynote speaker on business and economics topics to audiences around the country at national conventions, professional associations, and community groups.
Her educational development began as a student at Tennessee State University, where she majored in mathematics. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree, she pursued the Master of Business Administration from Clark Atlanta University. She then completed her doctorate in business from George Washington University, and later completed her law degree from Georgetown University.
Dr. Glover is a member of several professional, civic, and non-profit organizations. She is also the recipient of numerous awards and honors, and recently received the prestigious Thurgood Marshall College Fund Education Leadership Award as the 2018 HBCU President of the Year. Glover was also named to Essence Magazine’s 2019 “Woke 100” List of influential African American women change agents and power players that also included First Lady Michelle Obama, and Gayle King of CBS This Morning News. In 2013, she was named to Diverse Issues in Higher Education’s prestigious list as one of the “Top 25 Women in Higher Education.” Dr. Glover also serves as the immediate past International President of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
Dr. Glover and her husband, Charles, are the parents of two adult children, Attorney Candace Glover- Datcher, and Dr. Charles Glover II. They are also the proud grandparents of Langston Emmanuel Datcher, Lincoln Mathis Glover, Everett Miles Glover and the twins, Logan and Lena Datcher.