Bill Johnson For Governor

Bill Johnson

Bill Johnson is the son of a career army soldier and grew up at Ft Benning and Keesler Air Force bases. When his father retired, the family settled in Birmingham in 1973. He attended John Carroll high school and received a full academic scholarship to Spring Hill College in Mobile on a pre-med track.

In 1980, in the summer between his junior and senior years at Springhill, he flew to Pakistan to volunteer as a medic with the Afghan Mujahideen fighting the Soviet invasion (more on Afghanistan trip). He returned to finish his senior year and graduated in 1981 with a degree in Chemistry, but opted not to go into medicine. Bill instead started an industrial-commercial contracting company and engage his new found passion for international travel.

In 1985, he heard President Reagan's call to action when the Communist Sandinistas took control of Nicaragua. He served eight months as a medic with the Contras fighting the Sandinistas there (more on Contra service). Since his initial trip out of the country in 1980, he has travelled to 46 countries on five continents, including a Cairo to South Africa overland trip and a TransAmazon Road Ralley from Colombia to Argentina.

In 1993 Bill became active in politics and has worked to elect many conservative candidates. In 1997 he was elected to the Birmingham City Council and represented one of the most diverse districts in the city. In 2000, he completed the Senior Executives in State and Local Government Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.

In January 2003, Governor Bob Riley appointed Bill assistant director for the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). In December of 2005, Governor Riley appointed Bill as Director for the agency where Bill served until June of 2009, when he resigned to run for Governor. ADECA manages more than $240 million in federal grant dollars each year with some 230 employees.

Bill is married to the former Kathy Hale. Kathy heads the Alabama Broadband Initiative for Governor Bob Riley. Bill and Kathy have three children Kaleigh, Kaleb and Hayley, a son-in-law Jeremy and a "grand-dog" Mulligan. Bill and Kathy reside in Prattville, Alabama.