Janis Johnson

Professional Experience

Janis Johnson is principal of Johnson Consulting, a strategic communications firm in San Rafael, CA, specializing in fundraising, marketing/branding, organizational and executive communications. As a consultant, she brings a diversified career as a strategist and practitioner who has built and managed communications teams and initiatives in complex nonprofit institutions and as a journalist with major news media. Her skills extend to alumni and development communications, print and electronic publishing and web development.

Before starting her consulting business, Janis held senior leadership positions at Georgetown University and Loyola Marymount University (LMU in Los Angeles). As assistant vice president, she oversaw award-winning communications for Georgetown University's $1 billion comprehensive campaign, the largest and most successful in the university's history, and before that was director of communications for Georgetown University Medical Center. At LMU, she built the institution’s first comprehensive communications office and led a multi-year re-branding initiative. For the first part of her career, Janis was a staff writer for The Washington Post and later a correspondent for USA Today, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Miami Herald, Boston Globe and other publications.

She has been a presenter at CASE and Jesuit Advancement Administrators conferences and is a member of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, International Association of Business Communicators and Public Relations Society of America. Janis was recently elected to the board of directors of To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation in Marin County, California. She is a graduate of Duke University.