Lionel C. Johnson

President
Pacific Pension & Investment Institute (PPI)

Lionel C. Johnson became president of the Pacific Pension & Investment Institute in July 2014. His career spans more than four decades, during which he has been a leader in international business, public policy, and sustainable development. Johnson has served as senior vice president of the Initiative for Global Development, vice president of Turkey, Middle East, and North Africa Affairs at the Chamber of Commerce of the United States, and vice president of Public Affairs at Fleishman-Hillard. 

Previously, Johnson served as vice president and director of International Government Affairs at Citigroup and deputy assistant secretary of the Treasury for International Development, Debt, and Environment Policy during the Clinton Administration. He was also a senior advisor on the U.S. International Affairs Budget to Secretary of State Warren Christopher and a member of the Department of State Policy Planning Staff. Additionally, Johnson was deputy director of the Clinton/Gore transition team at the Department of State.

As a member of the U.S. Foreign Service, Johnson served at U.S. embassies in Haiti, the Philippines, and Kenya. He was also special assistant to Secretaries of State George P. Shultz and James A. Baker III. Johnson was a senior program officer at the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He taught U.S. foreign policy and American politics at the City University of Manila in the Philippines and earned his B.A. in political science from Rutgers University in 1982.

In addition to serving the PPI Community, Johnson is a professor of Practice of International Relations at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is chairman of the board at Sudoc, a sustainable chemical start-up, and sits on the RAND Corporation and Oxfam America boards.  Johnson has also served with distinction throughout his career on various other nonprofit boards.