Courtesy photo
David O. Williams, a journalist in the Eagle River Valley since 1991, has returned to the Vail Daily in the role of business editor.
Williams first moved to Vail in 1991 to serve as sports editor of the Vail Daily, then ski editor (an actual title back then), Eagle County reporter and city editor before moving out of town to work at publications on both coasts. He returned to the Vail Daily in 1997 before moving to the competing Vail Trail and Daily Trail newspapers from 1998 to 2001.
Since then, Williams has been an independent freelance journalist, producing articles for more than 75 publications ranging from The New York Times to People Magazine. Since 2007, Williams has been the publisher and managing editor of RealVail.com, which he will now put on the backburner indefinitely.
Since 2015, Williams has freelanced for the Vail Daily and its sister Vail Valley Magazine, producing articles on immigration, international business, transportation, health care, housing, regional economic conditions and more. He will continue to report on those vital topics from a business perspective while also producing local business profiles.
For a series on water quality at the Eagle River Village mobile home park in 2019, Williams and the Vail Daily won the prestigious public service award from the Colorado Press Association. In 2023, the Vail Daily published a Vail history book written by Williams entitled “Rod Slifer & the Spirit of Vail” that explored the incredible life of one of Vail’s most beloved founders.
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Williams looks forward to hopefully continuing to produce award-winning reporting on critical topics in 2026, seeking solutions and bringing communities together in the Eagle River Valley. He lives in EagleVail with his wife Kristin Kenney Williams and their two dogs, Chuck and Monty. They have three adult boys living in Bozeman, Montana, and Lafayette, Colorado.
