Aegir President Named Entrepreneur of Year

Ella D. Williams, president of Oxnard-based Aegir Systems, has been named the AT & T Entrepreneur of the Year. She received the nationwide award at a luncheon honoring black women of achievement sponsored by the Legal Defense Fund of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

Williams founded Aegir, a computer services and engineering firm that now has 70 employees, in 1981.

“I did it on a shoestring,” she said. “I had to take out a second mortgage on my home.”

In its early days, Aegir concentrated on creating computer programs for the Navy. With the decline of defense work, the company has moved into such non-defense markets as urban transportation, Williams said. She said one of her largest projects is involved in development of the Los Angeles transportation system.

Aegir, which is privately held, does not disclose its revenues, but Williams described it as “a multimillion-dollar organization.” The company has offices in Los Angeles and Washington.