Willene Johnson

Johnson graduated from Radcliffe College with a degree in social studies in 1968,{{cite news |last1=Hailu |first1=Ruth A. |title=Revisiting the 'Four Demands,' Fifty Years Later |url=https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2018/5/20/four-demands-revisited/ |access-date=22 March 2021 |work=The Harvard Crimson |date=May 20, 2018}} from St. John's University (New York City) with a degree in African History, and from Columbia University, with a PhD in Development economics. While a student at Radcliffe, she was a member of the Harvard-Radcliffe Association for African and Afro-American Students (AFRO). She became interested in African Development as director and a volunteer teacher with Volunteer Teachers for Africa, a student-run program at Harvard and Radcliffe.{{Cite web|title=STATEMENT OF WILLENE A. JOHNSON NOMINEE FOR U.S. EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK BEFORE THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE|url=https://www.treasury.gov/press-center/press-releases/Pages/ls186.aspx|access-date=2021-02-25|website=www.treasury.gov}}

Johnson worked in the Federal Reserve system, from 1982 to 1999, when she was nominated as U.S. Executive Director of the African Development Bank.{{Cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8cIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA4|journal=Jet Magazine|title=Willene A. Johnson Picked As U.S. Executive Director of The African Development Bank|date=1999-09-13|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company|language=en}} She has also served as a member of the United Nations Committee for Development Policy and chair of the Sub-Saharan Africa Advisory Committee of the United States Export-Import Bank.{{cite web |title=BIOGRAPHIES |url=https://africacenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/2021-03-Parliamentarians-Forum-Bios-EN.pdf |website=African Center For Strategic Studies |access-date=22 March 2021}}

Johnson has also worked as a consultant and adjunct faculty member at several colleges and universities,{{Cite web|title=Profile {{!}} Willene A. Johnson {{!}} Peace Exchange|url=https://www.dmeforpeace.org/peacexchange/our-community/members/willene/profile/|access-date=2021-02-25|language=en-US}}{{Cite web|title="Conversations In Leadership" - featuring Willene Johnson|url=https://www.eventbrite.com/e/141861709191?aff=efbneb|access-date=2021-03-22|website=Eventbrite|language=en-us}} supported the work of the Women's Institute for Science, Equity and Race (WISER),{{cite news |last1=Suiter |first1=Mary |title=Women in Economics: Rhonda Vonshay Sharpe |url=https://www.stlouisfed.org/timely-topics/women-in-economics/rhonda-vonshay-sharpe |access-date=22 March 2021 |work=Women in Economics |publisher=Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis |date=July 30, 2020 |quote=And since I’ve started WISER, Willene Johnson, [...] has been just a huge support for me with the work that I do with WISER.}} and is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Association For The Advancement of African Women Economists (AAAWE).{{cite web |title=International Advisory Board |url=http://www.aaawe.org/about/international-advisory-board/ |website=Association For The Advancement of African Women Economists (AAAWE) |access-date=22 March 2021}} In 2018, Johnson told The Harvard Crimson, "In today's environment, when many people at the age of 70 would be ready to retire, I think many of us who were engaged in the movement for social justice in the sixties find ourselves recognizing that the African phrase, ‘the struggle continues’—aluta continua—is still very relevant. We're still struggling and we're not going to give up."

In 2020, Fanta Traore, writing for Fortune, named her one of "19 Black economists to celebrate and know," and noted Johnson is the president of Komaza Inc., "a consulting firm that offers instruction and advice on economic and financial development, including microfinance, security sector resource management, and the role of economics in conflict management."{{Cite web|title=19 Black economists to celebrate and know, this Juneteenth and beyond|url=https://fortune.com/2020/06/19/black-economists-fixing-systemic-racism-juneteenth/|access-date=2021-02-25|website=Fortune|language=en}}

Her public speaking appearances include the keynote speech at the first conference of the Sadie Collective in 2019, intended to increase the number of Black Women in Economics and related fields.{{Cite web|last=Diversified|first=AuthorMedia|date=2019-04-06|title=The Sadie Collective: Creating a seat at the table for Black women in economics|url=https://mediadiversified.org/2019/04/06/the-sadie-collective-creating-a-seat-at-the-table-for-black-women-in-economics/|access-date=2021-03-22|website=Media Diversified|language=en}} At the conference, Johnson said, "We need to follow Alexander’s example of developing carefully collected data from communities where policy will be implemented, as well as develop sound economic theory to dislodge accepted models of analysis and policies that contribute to the systems of poverty, and powerlessness in many communities of color," referring to Sadie T.M. Alexander, the first woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. in economics and the first African-American woman to practice law in Pennsylvania.{{cite news |last1=Dansberger Duque |first1=Catalina Sofia |title=Inside the Conference for Black Women Economists |url=https://msmagazine.com/2019/04/02/the-new-faces-of-finance-inside-the-conference-for-black-women-economists/ |access-date=22 March 2021 |work=Ms. Magazine |date=April 2, 2019}} Johnson also was a co-presenter of the "Security Spending Analysis and Accountability" session at the African Parliamentarians’ Forum 2021: Oversight of the Security Sector hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.{{cite web |title=African Parliamentarians' Forum 2021: Oversight of the Security Sector |url=https://africacenter.org/programs/parliamentarians-2021/ |website=Africa Center for Strategic Studies |access-date=22 March 2021}}

• Johnson, Willene. "[https://www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/publication/cdp-background-paper-no-09/ Policy responses to economic vulnerability]" Economic & Social Affairs, CDP Background Paper No. 9 (2006).
• Johnson, Willene A. "Women and self-employment in urban Tanzania." The Review of Black Political Economy 14, no. 2-3 (1985): 245–257. doi.org/10.1007/BF02689892
• Bogan, Vicki, Willene Johnson, and Nomathemba Mhlanga. Microfinance institution capital structure and financial sustainability. No. 7. Working Papers, 2007.
• Johnson, Willene A. "Food and Politics: A Case Study of Ethiopia." Horn of Africa 2, no. 1 (1979): 28–35.
• Christy, Ralph D., Mark Wenner, Emelly Mutambatsere, and Willene Johnson. "How Can Financial Markets and Biotechnology Help the Rural Poor?." In Financial Inclusion, Innovation, and Investments: Biotechnology and Capital Markets Working for the Poor, pp. 1–26. 2011.
• {{cite book |author1-link=Côte d’Ivoire: The Role of the Private Sector in Building a Peace Economy |editor1-last=Besada |editor1-first=Hany |title=From Civil Strife to Peace Building: Examining Private Sector Involvement in West African Reconstruction |date=October 2009 |isbn=9781554580521 |publisher=Wilfrid Laurier University Press |quote=Johnson, Willene. Côte d’Ivoire: The Role of the Private Sector in Building a Peace Economy}}{{cite news |title=From Civil Strife to Peace Building Examining Private Sector Involvement in West African Reconstruction |url=https://www.wlupress.wlu.ca/Books/F/From-Civil-Strife-to-Peace-Building2 |access-date=22 March 2021 |work=Wilfrid Laurier University Press}}

• In 2021, Johnson was elected as a fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration.{{Cite web |last=Incorporated |first=Prime |title=National Academy of Public Administration |url=https://napawash.org/fellow/89748 |access-date=2023-03-06 |website=National Academy of Public Administration |language=en}}
• 2011 Wharton Award,{{cite web |title=2011: Willene A. Johnson |url=https://emergingmarkets.dyson.cornell.edu/2011-willene-a-johnson/ |website=Emerging Markets Program |date=13 February 2019 |publisher=Cornell SC Johnson School of Business |access-date=22 March 2021}} Cornell University{{cite web |title=Wharton Award Recipients |url=https://emergingmarkets.dyson.cornell.edu/previous-recipients/ |website=Emerging Markets Program |date=26 February 2016 |publisher=Cornell SC Johnson College of Business |access-date=22 March 2021}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGGJlNtwTIU Dr. Willene Johnson, former US Executive Director at the African Development Bank, addresses the topic of Resource Management and Conflict before an interagency audience at a workshop on Africa's Contemporary Security Challenges hosted by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies.]
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o0dKeiQvL0 Security Implications of Budgeting, Procurement, and Corruption in Africa - Dr. Willene Johnson]

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Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American economists

Category:Radcliffe College alumni

Category:Columbia University alumni

Category:African-American economists

Category:American women economists

Category:American development economists

Category:Year of birth missing (living people)

Category:Presidents of the National Economic Association

Category:21st-century African-American people

Category:21st-century African-American women