Willie L. King Jr.

Global Business Engineering Leader  
DuPont Engineering
Wilmington, Del.
Age: 39

Willie L. King Jr.’s mother died of breast cancer when he was a senior in high school. His father urged him to move forward in spite of the pain. King attributes much of his success to this early lesson. “[My father] told me to always believe in myself, give an honest effort and leave the rest in God’s hands,” he says.

Armed with a bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Howard University, a master’s in civil engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and a business doctorate in organization and management from Capella University, King gave an honest effort for more than 10 years at DuPont facilities in Virginia, Ohio, California, Louisiana and others, before securing his current position as global business engineering leader at the Delaware offices. He is responsible for the Business Capital and Infrastructure Maintenance program for the Titanium Technologies Business. Awarded Star Employee status during DuPont’s Corp. Shareholders Annual Review (2006), he serves as the company’s Campus Lead for recruiting at Georgia Institute of Technology.

He was so inspired athletically and personally by his track-and-field coach, William P. Moultrie, at Howard, that, had he not chosen a career in engineering, he would have been a high school basketball coach. “He assisted me with a scholarship, gave me the opportunity to be a leader and motivated me to be a responsible and accountable Black man,” he explains. King shares his wisdom with others in his book Black Males in Engineering: a Research Study of Black Male Engineers, Career Growth, Development and Promotion (Aventine Press). He is a board member for Healthy Lifestyles Healthy Kids and a member of 100 Black Men of America. Having benefited from positive role models in his life, King is keen to pass the torch to a generation of young men who, he hopes, will follow in his footsteps.

Fun Facts
First car: Chevy S-10
Dish you cook best: Boiling water
First job: Father’s masonry company