General Manager
James “JW” Williams
As General Manager of Summerfield Trading, James “JW” Williams brings a builder’s mindset to the company’s operations, growth, and culture. With 40 years of experience leading start-ups, early-stage companies, and established organizations, JW has spent his career developing teams, systems, and client relationships that help businesses grow with purpose and staying power.
Originally from Toledo, Ohio, JW moved to Chicago after earning his undergraduate degree from Ohio University and has called the western suburbs home ever since. He later earned his MBA from Benedictine University and built a career largely rooted in healthcare, including the start-up and growth of companies across the country. One of his proudest accomplishments was helping develop first-to-market proton therapy centers, advancing access to highly specialized cancer treatment for patients around the world.
While JW’s path to Summerfield Trading may seem unconventional at first glance, his connection to landscape design and gardening began early. Each Mother’s Day weekend, he and his mother would visit the garden center to choose flowers and plants for the season. This is when she taught him the importance of “thrillers, fillers, and spillers” in container design. That early appreciation only deepened over time. When JW and his family built their home more than 20 years ago, he spent a year designing the landscape on paper, complete with planting areas, curving paths, a pond, and a waterfall. After several years of DYI construction phases, the property is his therapeutic pride and joy.
JW is passionate about building enduring, creative cultures and developing businesses that are not just strong, but distinctive. Outside of work, he enjoys time with his wife Peggy of nearly 40 years and their three children, high-intensity training, weightlifting, gardening, and family history. He is also deeply involved with the International Myelodysplastic Syndromes Foundation, serving on the governing board as well as its finance and development committees.