Career Summary

Curtis Johnson's career has been split between action and analysis -- on the one side as a leader in governance, culminating with four years as chairman of the Metropolitan Council in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) and on the other as an independent journalist and commentator on urban and metropolitan issues in regions around America and the world. The Metro Council is one of America's two regional governments (Portland, Oregon the other) and has responsibility for planning and operating the transit and wastewater treatment system, allocating transportation funds, regulating land use, promoting affordable housing, and overseeing capital investments for parks, open space, and the airport system -- for a seven-county metropolitan area of nearly three million population.

Johnson's career also includes ten years as a community college president in the 1970s, followed by eleven years as the head of the Citizens League, a well known public affairs research and action organization in the Twin Cities; and three years as policy adviser to former Minnesota Governor Arne Carlson, including a period as chief of staff.

Publications

With columnist Neal Peirce, Johnson has produced feature series for newspapers in 21 American regions over the past 14 years. These articles typically run across four successive Sunday newspapers.

He co-authored with Peirce the 1993 book Citistates and the 1997 book Boundary Crossers, based on field research in ten American regions, showcasing the top ten characteristics of places where citizens had made a measurable impact on public policy.

Johnson also writes for magazines and journals, most recently in the winter 1999 edition of Urban Age (on the new metropolitan agenda), the summer 1998 edition of Urban Lawyer (introducing a series of articles built on an American-German exchange on sustainable transportation polices), as well as pieces for the National Association of Regional Council's Regionalist journal, Governing magazine, Stone Soup, and the Minnesota Journal. He also authored a chapter for a yet-to-be-published book on civic society through Georgetown University.

Academic History

Bachelor of Arts and postgraduate study - History - Baylor University, 1963

Ph.D. - Higher Education Administration (major concentration in organizational theory, with doctoral study on dynamics of power in college organizations), minor concentration in Educational Psychology - University of Texas at Austin, 1970

Current Boards/Affiliations

Board of Directors - Great North Alliance
Board of Directors - 1000 Friends of Minnesota
Board of Directors - The National Civic League
Advisor to the National Alliance for Regional Stewardship
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