BusinessReport.com

Matt Williams says he didn’t always aspire to being a television journalist. But it’s clear that he’s always had a passion for meeting people and telling their stories. It’s a vocation that developed within him as a young person growing up in different places.

“I grew up all over the place because my father was in the oil business, so we moved around a lot,” Williams says. “What that did was give me a perspective on what this country is really about and desire to tell those stories.”

It might have been that desire that motivated Williams to get into the business of TV news. But more than a decade later, he now sees his role in the community as being something of a public servant.

“Everybody thinks of public servants as government officials,” he says. “But I think we journalists are at our best when we play that role as well. There’s a job we’re trusted to do and, though it doesn’t always get done to the liking of all the people, we try the best we can and I enjoy being part of that business.”

That’s why Williams doesn’t just anchor WAFB-TV’s popular 9News This Morning. He has also developed a couple of special reporting beats that allow him to get out in the community and try to make a difference. He does that as the station’s Crime Stoppers reporter and also through the Living Greener series, a campaign that offers viewers advice and tips about saving energy and making the world a cleaner and healthier place to live.

“The more green and reusable recycling we do, the better off we’ll all be,” he says. “Anything I can do to further that cause, I am committed to doing.”

Williams has embraced Baton Rouge since moving here in 2003 from New Mexico, and he says it has become home for him, his wife and his young family. They keep him very busy when he’s not on the air: His eldest his just 5, and he has 2-year-old twins.

“It’s wonderful,” Williams says. “No matter what happens at work or out there in the world, when you walk in the door they run to embrace you, and that’s the only thing that matters.”

Age: 35

If you could have a job other than your own, what would it be? “My perfect job is somewhere between Mike Rowe, host of Discovery Channel’s Dirty Jobs, and Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show. I’d love to be able to tell a story and also get out in the middle of it.”

Click here for the complete list of 2009's Forty Under 40 winners.