Bill Johnson

In January 2003, Bill Johnson was appointed by Governor Bob Riley as Assistant Director of the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA), followed in November 2005 with an appointment as Director of the agency. ADECA manages more than $200 million in federal grant dollars each year with some 230 employees. The state department assists communities with economic development projects and administers a wide variety of federal and state programs that provide funding to local governments and non-profit agencies throughout the state.

Johnson was instrumental in launching the Governor’s Black Belt Action Commission in 2004, and served as Executive Director during the Commission’s first two years. He also launched and coordinates the Governor's prison reenntry initiative. This initiative, the Community Partnership for Recovery and Renewal or CPR Network partners with hundreds of faith and community based organizations to help people leaving the state prison system break the cycle of recidivism. Johnson also adopted the Mentor Alabama program which aids mentoring organizations by providing free background checks to the organizatiions for people volunteering as mentors.

He also served as the Governor’s State Alternate for the Appalachia Regional Commission and State Alternate for the Delta Regional Authority and the Southern Growth Policies Board. In his capacity as ADECA director, he aslo served on the Alabama Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research program (EPSCoR) board, the board of the Economic Development Association of Alabama (EDAA) and represented Governor Riley on the National Governor's Ethanol Coalition.

Johnson was recognized as "2008 Public Official of the Year" by Alabama's Habitat for Humanity.

Johnson has extensive political experience, managing the statewide grassroots efforts in Riley’s successful bids for Governor in both 2002 and 2006, and Riley’s successful bid for US Congress in Alabama’s Third Congressional District in 1996.

Prior to working with Riley’s campaign, Johnson worked as a political consultant specializing in the use of information technology. He gained experience in community development issues when elected in 1997 to the Birmingham City Council. His service on the Birmingham City Council from 1997-2001 drew praise from both Democratic and Republican legislators and from the business community. He brought a unique lifetime of experience and dedication to the Council of making a difference in city government.

Johnson graduated from John Carroll High School in 1977 and attended Spring Hill College in Mobile on a full academic scholarship. He received a B.S. in Chemistry in 1981 from Spring Hill, graduating cum laude, and was accepted into the University of Alabama Medical School. Following a brief stay in medical school, Johnson embarked on travels around the world to experience for himself the people, cultures and governments of more than forty countries on five continents. Often on foot, relying on his wits and what he could fit into a backpack, he was almost always welcomed into the communities where he stayed. His travels took him on a 700-mile walk across the African desert and savanna.

By the time Johnson fully resumed life back in the states, where for several years he operated an industrial/commercial construction company, he had developed a desire to make a difference through government. His international travels led him full circle back home to Birmingham, where he committed himself to political service. His youthful political ideas have been deepened by age and maturity, but he is just as politically committed and energized about changing life for the better as he was in his twenties.

In addition to his education at Spring Hill College, Johnson completed an intensive program for senior state and local government officials at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government in 2000, is a 2002 graduate of Leadership Birmingham and a member of Mensa International.

Bill is married to the former Kathy Hale of Pueblo, Colorado. Kathy currently serves as the director of Governor Riley's statewide broadband initiative and is former director of Children First Foundation and the Alabama Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. She is a 2003 graduate of Leadership Alabama and serves on a number of boards, including the Character Council of Alabama and HIPPY (Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters). Kathy was a Governor appointee for the Second Congressional District on the Alabama Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board, and shared her platform of child advocacy as a2001 top-10 finalist in Mrs. America and two-time Mrs. Alabama. As a motivational speaker, Kathy has spoken to over 75,000 people statewide.

Bill and Kathy have three children, Kaleigh, Kaleb and Hayley, and reside in Prattville, Alabama.