Deidre Johnson, MBA
CEO and Executive Director
Deidre Johnson is the CEO and Executive Director of The Center for African American Health. Johnson is an ASCEND Aspen Institute Colorado Children and Families Health and Human Services Fellow, a Transformative Leadership for Change Fellow, a Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Livingston Fellow, and an Adjunct Professor in the University of Denver, University College Nonprofit Leadership Program.
A results-oriented executive, Johnson has an extensive background in strategic planning, grant making, grants management, fund raising, program development, project management, strategic learning and systems evaluation. She has been recognized among peers as an exceptionally creative, innovative, collaborative, adaptive leader who consistently achieves professional and organizational goals.
Prior to joining The Center in December 2015, Johnson was a Program Officer for The Colorado Trust, Vice President of Development and Marketing for Qualistar Early Learning, worked as a senior consultant with JVA Consulting, and held various leadership positions in development and communications with the Urban League of Metropolitan Denver, the Mile High Montessori Early Learning Centers, and the Colorado I Have a Dream Foundation.
Johnson currently serves on the following boards and steering committees: Colorado School of Public Health Advisory Board, Colorado Behavioral Health Task Force, Transition Advisory Group (TAG) for the new Colorado Department of Early Childhood, the Mayor’s Office of Social Equity and Innovation’s Denver Racial Equity Council, Mile High Health Alliance, Yale Philanthropy Conference Advisory Board, Ascend at the Aspen Institute 2Gen Prenatal – 3 Learning and Action Community (2Gen P3 LAC) and Colorado State Senator James Coleman’s Health Care Policy Cabinet.
She is a member of the Denver Metro Chamber Foundation Leadership Denver Class of 2007. Johnson’s is trained in facilitative leadership and is a certified Colorado Family Leadership Training Institute Facilitator. A Denver native, Johnson graduated from St. Mary’s Academy, holds a Bachelor’s Degree in English from Princeton University, and an MBA from the Yale School of Management.