John Johnson is the director of governance at NDI where he manages a team of professionals supporting regional programs to strengthen parliaments, and the offices of presidents and prime ministers. He also serves as NDI's liaison with development and scholarly institutions working on governance issues.
Before joining NDI in 2007, Mr. Johnson launched many successful legislative initiatives at the State University of New York. While at SUNY, he designed and managed democracy strengthening programs for USAID, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the World Bank Institute (WBI), the Southern Africa Development Community Parliamentary Forum (SADC PF), the Inter-American Development Bank, the Organization of American States, the Ford Foundation and the Tinker Foundation. He has authored or co-authored publications for USAID, UNPD, WBI and SADC PF, among them the USAID handbook on legislative strengthening, the SADC PF orientation handbook for MPs, a WBI/Commonwealth Parliamentary Forum orientation program for parliamentary staff and another for members, and publications on parliaments and conflict and parliaments and budgeting, among other topics. He has consulted or conducted training activities in 35 countries, including two years in Kenya where he directed a parliamentary strengthening program for USAID.
Mr. Johnson has served as the North American member of the UNDP panel of legislative experts, worked with New York state government, served as a U.S. diplomat and an adjunct professor of political science, directed the New York Senate transportation committee, and taught in Kenya. His foreign language is Spanish.
Mr. Johnson completed coursework for a Ph.D. in political science, and holds an MA in political science and an MA in African Studies from the University at Albany. His BA, in government, is from St. Lawrence University. He is married and has two adult sons.
