Bill Keyes serves on the Board of Directors of UNC Health, one of the nation’s leading academic health care systems. The $5.4 billion enterprise is based in Chapel Hill and serves patients across the state of North Carolina through numerous hospitals and clinical practices. Significant medical research is conducted through the UNC School of Medicine. He chairs the Audit, Compliance, Enterprise Risk, and Legal Subcommittee.

In 2018, Keyes distinguished himself as the only person in the 230-year history of the University of North Carolina to earn a PhD while serving on the Board of Trustees.

Keyes is proud to be the founder of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship. The organization selects some of America’s best and brightest African American male college students for an intensive two-summer program in Washington. Among the young men the Institute has served since 2003 are Rhodes Scholars (6), Fulbright Scholars, Truman Scholars, Udall Scholars, and the recipients of numerous other prestigious academic honors. They have earned PhDs, MDs, JDs, MBAs, and other degrees. And they are working as pastors, teachers, college professors, entrepreneurs, Wall Street analysts, lawyers, doctors, and consultants. One is a general surgeon at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and another is a member of the New York State Supreme Court.

In 2025, Keyes published an award-winning book, The Stories They Hear: Expecting Greatness as the Key to Success, about the conversations he has had with Institute scholars for more than two decades.

For his work in education, Keyes has been presented the Mac A. Stewart Distinguished Award for Service by the Todd A. Bell National Resource Center at Ohio State University, the Dr. Asa G. Hilliard Model of Excellence Award from the College Board, and the Make A Difference Award from Epstein Becker & Green PC. He also received the Warrior Award at the 2017 International Colloquium on Black Males in Education.