Marlene M. Johnson

Marlene Johnson "is executive director and chief executive officer of NAFSA: Association of International Educators, the world’s largest membership organization of professionals in the field of international educational exchange. NAFSA's 8,500 members work in 2,500 institutions, which educate approximately 90 percent of the half-million foreign students and scholars in the U.S. and are responsible for arranging international study experiences for more than 125,000 U.S. students each year.

"Johnson's commitment to international education issues has led to her current position as chair of the Alliance for International Educational and Cultural Exchange. She is also a member of the American Council on Education's Commission on International Education, and for the past two years has participated in the Universities Project of the Salzburg Seminar. The Project is a forum that brings senior representatives of higher education together to focus on higher education reform in Central and Eastern Europe. As an outgrowth of the Salzburg seminar, Johnson served on a team advising the leadership of the University of Tartarstan.

"Her prior international experience, in addition to world trade development for the state of Minnesota, includes an international business fellowship at the London School of Economics in 1987; creation of an entreprenuership program for Czech women at the College of St. Catherine in 1993; and participation in the creation of the Akita, Japan campus of the Minnesota State University system.

"Entrepreneur and administrator, Johnson has three decades of leadership experience in government, business, and nonprofit management. As lieutenant governor of Minnesota from 1983 to 1991, she was an outspoken advocate of international educational exchange at the secondary and post secondary levels. In 1994, the Clinton Administration recruited Johnson as associate administrator at the General Services Administration.

"Most recently, Johnson was vice president for people and strategy at a large furniture producer. In her corporate work, as elsewhere, Johnson built on her 12-year experience as president of a marketing and communications company in St. Paul, a business she founded and operated successfully before entering state politics.

"Marlene Johnson is an experienced and successful grassroots organizer. She is a former Board member of the World Press Institute and the National Association of Women Business Owners. Currently, she serves on the Board of Trustees of AFS Intercultural Programs and on the Board of Directors of the Girl Scouts Council of the Nation’s Capital."