Will Hampton

Will Hampton helps local governments earn public trust and keep it when issues turn contentious. 

For nearly 24 years he led communications and marketing for the City of Round Rock, Texas, one of the fastest-growing cities in the country. His department won more than 100 national and state awards. In the city’s 2022 resident survey, 72 percent of residents rated its communication with the public as excellent or good, against a national average of 38 percent and a Texas average of 29 percent. 

Will specializes in citizen engagement for controversial projects. In Round Rock he led engagement efforts that secured a $330 million regional water project and a $600 million economic development private-public partnership, along with transportation master plans and a 10-year service plan. He now helps cities build engagement plans designed around a specific project and its local politics, including proposals such as data centers that draw strong public reaction. 

At SGR, Will leads Communications & Governance workshops, including Healthy Civil Discourse, High-Performance Communication Teams, and Good Governance & Communications. He also coaches executives and communications teams on strategy and storytelling and helps organizations design resident surveys and turn the results into action. 

Will holds FEMA Advanced PIO certification. He writes Good Government Files, a newsletter on Substack and LinkedIn about governance and communication in local government, and is finishing his first book, The Infrastructure of Trust.