Topics | Speeches

Curtis Johnson

Curtis Johnson is one of those rare writers who's spent time on the front lines of government and education. Today he is president of the Citistates Group while continuing as an active journalist, commentator and conference moderator.

Over the past three decades Johnson has been a college president (1971-1980), the head of a public policy research organization (1980-1990), a policy adviser and chief of staff to a governor (1991-1994), and the chairman of the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area Metropolitan Council (1994-1998).

He is the co-author, with syndicated columnist Neal Peirce, of two books: Citistates (1993) and Boundary Crossers (1997). With Peirce, he has produced feature reports on 24 different American regions – from New England to Seattle , Phoenix to South Florida - for leading newspapers over the past 20 years. Citistates Reports build an agenda for a region's future from extensive interviews and analysis of trend data. These reports have done more than stir up the civic dust; they have often been the catalyst for action.

Johnson has a reputation for managing meetings, especially where the goal is to find some common ground across divided opinions. He is increasingly in demand to play the role of provocateur and synthesizer at conferences, helping to frame the key issues and wrapping up the conference by turning the highlights into a summary narrative.

He has consulted with major business organizations to develop positions on key issues or find the keys to collaborating across political jurisdictions on strategic regional issues.

Johnson also contracts regularly to write popular versions of complex university research that are likely to be read by policymakers and the media. He is currently collaborating with Harvard Business School professor Clayton Christensen on a book that uses theory derived from 15 years of research on business enterprises both to explain the struggle to get better performance from schools and to identify best opportunities for innovation in the education industry.

Speech Topics

New Rules for Regions — What have we learned from places that were left-for-dead and came back? What seems to sustain success in regions never afflicted by crisis? What’s the get-it-all-together strategy for a regional community to rise above the also-rans into the next century? Hear about ten touchstone principles, always serious, sometimes humorous, cast in real history of American regions everyone recognizes.

Does Smart Growth Make Common Sense? -- It was the late John Gardner who warned that all major institutions eventually fall victim to their in-house delusions. The movement called "smart growth" has its mantras, its claims to high ground. What happens to these claims when they collide with common sense? Would the movement grow faster if its leaders threw its cheers and sneers overboard and built strategies on common sense?

Collaborating with Strangers -- Most civic process avoids disagreement. We meet in affinity groups and puzzle over lack of progress. Here are some rules of engagement that pay off, with examples from around the country.

Traffic: It's Only a Symptom -- The disease is a complex tangle of land use and transportation decisions that have effectively "designed" today's congestion. In a market system with local governments calling most of the shots on land use, are there any cures for what ails us? Yes, but only by focusing on where investments and incentives will actually change our daily behavior as buyers, drivers, and riders.

Beyond the Voucher Debate – American schools are better today than ever, but still they've slipped by international standards. Too many, particularly in our urban centers, don't deliver what today's children need. Since the mid-1980s wake-up call, we've seen the emergence of more choice, a serious standards movement, and the spread of charter schools. What have we learned from business involvement in places like Chicago and Seattle; from the current experiment with contracting in Philadelphia; from the use of vouchers in Milwaukee and Cleveland? The "right" calls for privatization; the "left" for more money. Why have a growing number of education leaders decided that the answer is to concentrate on creating new schools?

Recent Speeches

Federal Reserve Bank conference – Reinventing America’s Older Communities – Philadelphia, Pa,. January 14, 2004.
“New Rules for Regions”
Contact: Dede Myers, Vice President, Community Affairs – 215-574-6458

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission Annual Meeting
Columbus, OH – April 22, 2004
“New Rules for Regions”
Contact: Kimberly Gibson or Marilyn Brown
614-233-4130

Downtown Victoria 2020 Conference
Victoria, BC, Canada – March 22, 2004
“Making a Good Downtown Better”
Contact: Ron Drolet, BC Transit, 250-385-2551

2004 Annual Meeting – Tampa Bay Partnership
Sarasota, FL – May 26, 2004
“Leadership Matters First” – a fireside chat presentation
Contact: Stu Rogel, President or Ellen DeGregorio, Marketing Manager 813-872-210

Annual Air Quality Symposium
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
Bakersfield, CA – September 29, 2004
“Valley Air – Perfect Storm or Innovation Opportunity?”
Contact: Kelly Hogan Malay – 559-230-5851

Colorado ULI Transit Conference
Denver, CO – October 8, 2004
“Eight Indispensables in the Debate over Transit”
Contact: MarileeUtter, ULI, 303-820-3151

Manatee County Community Vision conference
Bradenton, FL – November 3, 2004
“Defining Community Today”
Contact: Nancy Engel, Economic Development Council, 941-748-3411

Central Florida Civic Leadership Conference
Orlando, FL – November 5, 2004
“Regional Realities and Leadership to Match”
Contact: Doug Gaines – 407-843-6552

Honolulu Conference on Sustainability. January 11, 2003. "Enough Study – Time To Act" – Honolulu's Transportation Dilemma. Contact: Cheryl Soon 808-523-4125

Central Oklahoma Regional Leadership Institute retreat. November 19, 2002.
"Realities in Metro Regions" – ten lessons learned from field research in ten American regions. Contacts: Zach Taylor, 405-234—2264; Drew Dugan, 405-297-8940.

League of Kansas Municipalities annual conference, Wichita. October 14, 2002. Keynote: "New Rules for Regions". Contact: Matt Jordan, 316-268-4351

Urban Land Institute – Smart Growth in South Carolina: Strategies for Success"
Charleston, S.C. September 26, 2002. Keynote – "Does Smart Growth Make Common Sense?" Contact: Victoria Wilbur, 202-624-7094.

Congress for the New Urbanism.Annual Conference. June, 2002 – Miami Beach, Fla. Opening plenary session – "South Florida: a Rehearsal for Urban America"
Contacts: James Murley, 954-782-5255; Shelly Poticha, 415-495-2255

Regional Transit Alliance Annual Meeting - Kansas City. May 4, 2002. Keynote: "If Transit Is Your Agenda, Delay Is Not Your Friend." Contact: David Warm, 816-474-4240.

Thursday Morning Roundtable - Syracuse, N.Y. January 8, 2002. "Collaborating with Strangers". A discussion of critical issues facing the Syracuse region. Contact: Judy Mower, 315-466-2700.

SYNTHESIZER , MODERATOR and FACILITATOR engagements

Urban Land Institute – Southern California conference on Real Estate and Growth Prospects, Beverly Hills, Calif. June 5, 2002. Opening remarks, panel moderation, facilitated audience discussion: "Do Excessive Regulations and Community Opposition Get You Down?" Contact: Lloyd Booker, 202-624-7092

Coming of Age conference – Arizona. Phoenix. May 23, 2002. Facilitated panel and large audience discussion on issues facing Arizona with an aging population. Contacts: Roger Hughes, 602-385-6500; John Hall, 480-965-4146.

Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City symposium: The New Power of Regions – a Policy Focus for Rural America. May 9, 10 - Kansas City. Closing presentation that synthesized the themes and issues of the conference, setting it in a national context. Contact: Katharine Sheaff, 816-881-2478.

Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council – Regional Visioning Session. January 18, 2002. Facilitated a three-hour visioning session of government and community leaders around issues of land use, transportation, water, and economic development. Contact: Avera Wynne, 727-570-5151 ext. 215.

For a full Johnson biography, click here.

Last updated January 3, 2007

All Contents © Citistates Group LLC. All Rights Reserved.