James A. Johnson (businessman)
James A. Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 December 1943 Benson, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | 18 October 2020 (aged 76) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Executive, Democratic Party operative |
| Known for | Chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae; campaign chair for Walter Mondale's 1984 presidential run; vice presidential vetting for John Kerry and Barack Obama |
James A. Johnson (December 24, 1943 – October 18, 2020) was a prominent American executive, influential Democratic Party operative, and served as chairman and CEO of Fannie Mae. He acted as campaign chair for Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential run and led the vice presidential vetting committees for both the presidential campaign of John Kerry and briefly for Senator Barack Obama in 2008.
Prior to his tenure at Fannie Mae, Johnson co-established the consulting company Public Strategies alongside diplomat Richard Holbrooke. After selling the firm to Shearson Lehman Brothers in 1985, he took on the role of managing director at Lehman Brothers. From 1991 through 1998, he helmed Fannie Mae as chairman and CEO. Subsequently, he held board positions at Goldman Sachs, Target Corporation, and UnitedHealth Group, while also chairing the Kennedy Center for the Arts and the Brookings Institution.
Early life and education
Johnson was born in Benson, Minnesota to Adeline, an educator, and Alfred I. Johnson, who served extensively as a member and speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives. At the University of Minnesota, he was elected student body president and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science in 1966. He further pursued graduate studies at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs, obtaining a Master of Public Affairs in 1968.
Career
Johnson’s political involvement began during his time at the University of Minnesota when he volunteered on Eugene McCarthy’s 1968 presidential campaign. He later joined the faculty at Princeton University.
During the 1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries, Johnson functioned as national campaign coordinator for Senator Edmund Muskie. Between 1973 and 1976, he held the position of director of public affairs at Dayton-Hudson Corporation (now known as Target Corporation). His political work included assisting Senators George McGovern and Walter Mondale, notably helping to establish Mondale’s exploratory committee for the 1976 presidential primaries. In that year, Johnson served as deputy director for Mondale’s vice-presidential campaign and acted as executive assistant to Vice President Mondale throughout the Carter Administration.
In 1981, Johnson partnered with diplomat Richard Holbrooke to launch Public Strategies, a consulting enterprise. He managed Walter Mondale’s unsuccessful bid for president in 1984. Following the sale of Public Strategies to Shearson Lehman Brothers in 1985, Johnson assumed a managing director role at Lehman Brothers until 1990.
Joining Fannie Mae—a government-sponsored enterprise listed publicly—Johnson was appointed vice chairman in 1990 before becoming chairman and CEO in 1991, a position he held until 1998. His leadership saw Fannie Mae emerge as a dominant mortgage market participant. In 1996, he authored Showing America a New Way Home.
An Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) report from 2004 concluded that during Johnson’s leadership, Fannie Mae improperly deferred $200 million in expenses, which enabled executives to obtain significant bonuses in 1998. A subsequent OFHEO report in 2006 disclosed that Johnson’s compensation had been underreported; his actual earnings were approximately $21 million rather than the initially stated $6–7 million.
Authors Gretchen Morgenson and Joshua Rosner have identified Johnson as a central figure linked to the origins of the 2008 financial crisis, dubbing him "corporate America's founding father of regulation manipulation." Nevertheless, most losses experienced by Fannie Mae were tied to loans acquired after his departure.
From 1999 until May 2018, Johnson was among the earliest external directors and one of the longest-tenured board members at investment bank Goldman Sachs, where he chaired the compensation committee. His board memberships extended to Forestar Group, Gannett Company, KB Home, Target Corporation, Temple-Inland, and UnitedHealth Group. Additionally, he served as vice chairman at private banking firm Perseus.
Johnson chaired the vice presidential selection panel during John Kerry’s 2004 presidential campaign. There was speculation that he could have been appointed Kerry’s chief of staff or Secretary of the Treasury if Kerry had won.
In June 2008, Senator Barack Obama named Johnson to a three-person committee responsible for vetting vice-presidential candidates. However, controversy emerged when it became public that Johnson had received $7 million in discounted mortgage loans from Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial amid the subprime mortgage crisis. To prevent distractions from Obama’s campaign efforts, Johnson resigned from this committee shortly thereafter but continued contributing by assisting with outreach to former Hillary Clinton supporters. During the 2008 election cycle, the John McCain campaign criticized Obama over his association with Johnson.
Other affiliations
From 1996 to 2004, Johnson held the position of chairman at the Kennedy Center, where he established and funded the Millennium Stage. He also led the Brookings Institution as chairman between 1994 and 2003 and remained engaged with its advisory council for the Hamilton Project. Beginning in 2011, he took on the role of chair for Stanford University's Center on Longevity advisory council. Johnson counted among his memberships the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Friends of Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, and Trilateral Commission. Additionally, he was part of the Bilderberg Group steering committee, participating in almost every conference since 1998, with exceptions only in 1999 and 2004.
Distinctions and recognitions
In recognition of his impact on America's architectural heritage during his leadership at Fannie Mae, Johnson was honored with the Honor Award by the National Building Museum in 1994. Four years later, in 1998, Washingtonian named him Washingtonian of the Year.
Johnson was granted several honorary degrees: a Doctor of Laws from Colby College in 1997; an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Howard University in 1999; and Doctor of Laws degrees from both Skidmore College in 2002 and the University of Minnesota in 2006.
Private life
Johnson's initial marriage was to Katherine Marshall. Following their divorce, he wed Maxine Isaacs, who served as press secretary for Mondale's 1984 presidential campaign; together they had a son named Alfred. The couple separated in 2010 and eventually divorced. In 2016, Johnson married Heather Muir Kirby, a managing director at Deutsche Bank.
His son Alfred Johnson held the role of Deputy Chief of Staff at the Department of the Treasury and previously worked as an aide to Rahm Emanuel during President Obama's administration.
Johnson passed away on October 18, 2020, at his residence in Washington, D.C., aged 76, following complications from a neurological illness.