Former Gary city council president lands White House fellowship

Former Gary Common Council President William Godwin has been selected as a 2023-2024 White House Fellow, the White House announced on Wednesday.

Founded in 1964, the program places early-career applicants with leadership experience in various executive branch roles. Fellows spend a year in their roles, after which they “leave the Administration equipped to serve as better leaders in their communities,” the White House wrote in a statement.

Godwin was placed at the Office of the National Cyber Director. Established by Congress in 2021, the office advises the president on cybersecurity policy and strategy. The office led the development of the President Joe Biden’s national cybersecurity strategy, announced in March, which called for tighter regulation of the tech companies that control the majority of the country’s digital infrastructure and a a more aggressive government role in disrupting foreign and domestic hackers.

“I’m honored to serve my country and to be joined by 14 other Fellows on this leadership journey!” Godwin wrote in a Wednesday Facebook post.

Godwin, who represented Gary’s 1st District, announced his resignation from the council on August 22. He had been serving as a lame duck since his failed bid for an at-large council seat in the city’s Democratic primary elections held in May. Mark Spencer, a teacher and the director of the West Side Theatre Guild, is on track to join the other two incumbent at-large councilmen when new council members are sworn in in January. He will take a seat currently occupied by Councilwoman Lori Latham, who successfully ran for Godwin’s 1st District seat in the primary.

In a statement announcing his resignation, Godwin referenced a career opportunity in public service that would not allow him to hold elected office and promised to share details “as soon as I’m authorized to.” Elected to the council in 2019, he also works as a realtor.

The caucus to pick Godwin’s successor will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday at the Calumet Township Multipurpose Center, 1900 W. 41st Avenue.

Godwin, a Northwest Indiana transplant originally from Jackson, Tennessee, is one of two White House Fellows with a connection to the Hoosier State. Michael Hole, an Austin, Texas-based physician, researcher and public policy professor, is a native of Darlington. He was placed with the president’s Domestic Policy Council. Other fellows were placed with the Central Intelligence Agency, the Office of the White House Chief of Staff, and the National Security Council, among other roles.