Jim Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1943-12-24)December 24, 1943 Benson, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | October 18, 2020(2020-10-18) (aged 76) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Education | University of Minnesota, Twin Cities (BA) Princeton University (MPA) |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Website | Official website |
James A. Johnson (December 24, 1943 – October 18, 2020)[1] was an American businessman,Democratic Party political figure, and chairman and chief executive officer ofFannie Mae. He was the campaign chairman forWalter Mondale's unsuccessful1984 presidential bid and chaired the vice presidential selection committee for thepresidential campaign of John Kerry. He briefly led the vice-presidential selection process for the 2008 Democratic presidential nominee, SenatorBarack Obama.
Before working for Fannie Mae, Johnson co-founded the private consulting firm Public Strategies with diplomatRichard Holbrooke. They sold the company toShearson Lehman Brothers in 1985, after which Johnson served as a managing director atLehman Brothers. After leading Fannie Mae from 1991 to 1998, Johnson became a board member of the investment bankGoldman Sachs as well as several other companies includingTarget Corporation andUnitedHealth Group. He was also chairman of both theKennedy Center for the Arts and theBrookings Institution.
Johnson was born on December 24, 1943, inBenson, Minnesota.[2][3] He was the son of Adeline, a schoolteacher, andAlfred I. Johnson, who was a member of theMinnesota House of Representatives from 1941 to 1958, and served asspeaker of the house in 1955 and 1957.[2][4]
At theUniversity of Minnesota, Johnson was student body president[5][6] and graduated with aB.A. inpolitical science in 1966,[7] and aMaster of Public Affairs degree from theSchool of Public and International Affairs atPrinceton University in 1968.[2]
While a student at the University of Minnesota, Johnson began his political career as a volunteer onthe 1968 presidential campaign ofEugene McCarthy.[8] He was later a faculty member atPrinceton University.[9]
In the1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Johnson started as the national campaign coordinator for SenatorEdmund Muskie, whose primary campaign came to an end despite early victories in Iowa and Illinois.[10] From 1973 to 1976, Johnson served as director of public affairs at the Dayton-Hudson Corporation (nowTarget Corporation).[11] During this period, Johnson also worked for SenatorsGeorge McGovern[2] andWalter Mondale.[12] In 1974, Mondale considered a run in the1976 presidential primaries with an exploratory committee which Johnson helped create.[12][13] In 1976, he was deputy director of Mondale's vice-presidential campaign[12] and was executive assistant to the Vice President during the entireCarter Administration.[12][14]
In 1981, Johnson co-founded Public Strategies, a private consulting firm, with diplomatRichard Holbrooke. During that time, he was the campaign manager forWalter Mondale's unsuccessful1984 presidential bid.[15] After selling Public Strategies toShearson Lehman Brothers in 1985,[16] Johnson was a managing director atLehman Brothers from 1985 to 1990.[17]
In 1990, Johnson became vice chairman ofFannie Mae, or the Federal National Mortgage Association,[15] a United States government-sponsored enterprise and publicly traded company.[18][19] In 1991, he was appointed chairman and chief executive officer of Fannie Mae,[15] a position he held until 1998.[20][21] In 1996 Johnson published a book,Showing America a New Way Home.[15]
AnOffice of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) report[22] from September 2004 found that, during Johnson's tenure as CEO, Fannie Mae had improperly deferred $200 million in expenses. This enabled top executives, including Johnson and his successor,Franklin Raines, to receive substantial bonuses in 1998.[23] A 2006 OFHEO report[24] found that Fannie Mae had substantially under-reported Johnson's compensation. Originally reported as $6–7 million, Johnson actually received approximately $21 million.[25]
In the 2011 bookReckless Endangerment: How Outsized Ambition, Greed and Corruption Led to Economic Armageddon, authorsGretchen Morgenson andJoshua Rosner wrote that Johnson was one of the key figures responsible for the2008 financial crisis. Morgenson described him in anNPR interview as "corporate America's founding father of regulation manipulation".[26]Andrew Ross Sorkin wrote inThe New York Times in 2012, "In fairness to Mr. Johnson, the vast majority of losses racked up by Fannie were the results of loans bought after he departed."[20]
Johnson was one of the first outside directors and the longest-serving board member of the investment bankGoldman Sachs. From 1999, when the company went public, until May 2018, he served as chairman of the compensation committee at Goldman Sachs.[21][27][28] He also served on the board ofForestar Group,Gannett Company, Inc.,[2]KB Home,[21] Target Corporation,[20]Temple-Inland,[2] andUnitedHealth Group.[21] Johnson was also the vice chairman of the private banking firmPerseus.[11]
Johnson chaired the vice presidential selection committee for the unsuccessful 2004presidential campaign of John Kerry. There was speculation that, had Kerry won, Johnson might have been named Kerry'schief of staff, orSecretary of the Treasury.[2]
On June 4, 2008, Barack Obama announced the formation of a three-person committee to vet vice presidential candidates, including Johnson,Caroline Kennedy, andEric Holder.[29] However, Johnson soon became a source of controversy when it was reported that he had received $7 million in cut-rate mortgage loans directly fromAngelo Mozilo, the CEO ofCountrywide Financial, a company implicated in the U.S.subprime mortgage crisis.[30] Johnson resigned from the vice presidential search committee on June 11, 2008, stating that he had done nothing wrong but did not want to distract attention from Obama's "historical effort".[31][32] He continued to assist in efforts to recruit formerHillary Clinton supporters to the Obama campaign.[33] On September 19, 2008, theJohn McCain campaign released an ad critical of Obama for his connections to Johnson and for appointing him to the vice presidential search committee.[34]
Johnson has served as chairman of theKennedy Center for the Arts (1996–2004) where he created and endowed the center's Millennium Stage.[35][36][37] He was also chairman of theBrookings Institution (1994–2003)[38] and continued thereafter to serve on the advisory council of the Brookings Institution'sHamilton Project.[39][40] Since 2011, he has been chairman of the advisory council for the Stanford University Center on Longevity.[41] He was a member of theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences, theAmerican Friends of Bilderberg, theCouncil on Foreign Relations, and theTrilateral Commission. Johnson was also a member of the steering committee of theBilderberg Group and participated in all of their conferences since 1998 except in 1999 and 2004.[42]
In 1994, Johnson received theHonor Award from theNational Building Museum for his contributions to the U.S.'s building heritage during his tenure atFannie Mae.[43] He was also named as a Washingtonian of the Year byWashingtonian magazine in 1998.[44]
Johnson received anHonoraryDoctor of Laws fromColby College in 1997, an HonoraryDoctor of Humane Letters fromHoward University in 1999, and Doctor of Laws fromSkidmore College in 2002[9] and the University of Minnesota in 2006.[7]
Johnson's first marriage was to Katherine Marshall.[1] After they divorced, he marriedMaxine Isaacs, who served as press secretary for Mondale's 1984 election campaign.[15] Together, they had a son (Alfred).[1] They separated in 2010[15][45] and subsequently divorced.[1] He married Heather Muir Kirby, a managing director atDeutsche Bank, in 2016.[1]
Johnson's son, Alfred Johnson, served as Deputy Chief of Staff in theDepartment of the Treasury.[46] He previously served in theObama Administration, working as an aide toRahm Emanuel.[47]
Johnson died on October 18, 2020, at his home inWashington, D.C., at age 76; he had suffered from aneurological condition in the time leading up to his death.[1]
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