Jennie Johnson wraps her small hands around a steaming teacup in the small kitchen at the offices of the Liberty Fellowship. A little bistro table strategically positioned next to the window on the 10th floor offers a splashy view of downtown and points north. The clutch of Montebello’s terracotta roofs perches on the hill far away. She unwraps a hand from the cup to gesture and sigh. Of all the places she’s lived, and there have been many, Greenville is her favorite. It has been for 20 years. Twenty years is a long time in a life punctuated by change from the beginning. As the “military brat” daughter of an engineer and pilot in the Air Force, she was born in the Canal Zone and moved every three years. She attended high school in Paris before coming back to the States. She’s had a lot of job changes too, from the point she determined she would not pursue a career in international espionage. After getting a degree from Miami University of Ohio in political science, she had a brief stint in the Library of Congress’ art department, obtained two graduate degrees from different universities, got health planning work in Winston-Salem, and worked for United Way for three years before settling in Greenville. Looking back, Johnson says she can see a clear path through what on the surface might look like wildly different and opposing opportunities. For instance, allocating resources for the United Way allowed her to get to know many of the CEOs of the companies that became donors.“This was a way to get into the private sector,” she explains, first at Intagon, the insurance subsidiary of Ashland Oil where she had been vice president of planning, and then by Liberty in 1986. Being at Liberty for over 15 years did not mean that things were stable. “We got sold two times,” she says, “and I moved into different divisions – first to Pierce National Life and then to Liberty Insurance Services.” She went from Vice President of Planning to Vice President of Administration, President of subsidiary Pierce National Life, and was eventually appointed President of Liberty Insurance Services. Working in all sectors, government, private and nonprofit has its rewards. When she decided to leave Liberty Insurance, Johnson was able to spend a few years as a consultant working on venture capital deals and helping people start their own businesses. Opportunity knocked again. Hayne Hipp, founder and Chairman of Liberty Corporation, approached her in 2002 about heading up the Liberty Fellowship, the statewide leadership effort sponsored by Liberty Corporation, Wofford College and the Aspen Institute. She jumped at the chance. As Executive Director and one of the moderators of the program, Johnson’s favorite challenge is finding the right mix of people for each class or what she calls “a symphony of voices.” “We are looking for people between the ages of 24 and 45 that are committed to the state of South Carolina for the long term, who have a certain intellectual curiosity and have achieved a certain level in their career. We look for people who want to make a real difference.” She says that talking to all these “young people” keeps her energized. “It is great to meet new people from across the state from a mosaic of mixed backgrounds and with different philosophies.” She points out that the current class has 16 business people and four from the non-profit arena. Johnson stays involved with the members of each class from the time they are nominated even though they are assigned a mentor. She attends each seminar as a moderator and checks in periodically with the fellows to make sure they are getting the best experience they can have. “This means I never stop learning,” she says speaking of what comes out of the discussions between the fellows as she makes sure they stay on texts such as Machiavelli’s to define their relevance in today’s world.“It is fabulous to see these young leaders come to grips with their own values, listen to others and transcend their differences. This is necessary to move South Carolina forward.” But Johnson finds she is most inspired by the expertise and accomplishments of one of the other founders and comoderator, Benjamin Bernard Dunlap, the current President of Wofford College who she calls a real renaissance man. Dunlap attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and received a Ph.D. from Harvard University. He has taught and lectured widely in Europe, India, Thailand and Japan, and published numerous poems, essays, anthologies, guides and opera libretti, and written and produced awardwinning programs for public television. “He establishes the model for a selfless leader,” she observes. Serving the community is an integral part of being a leader, Johnson explains and believes that if a person is not engaged in community service by the time they are 40 years old, they are likely never to do it. She takes that commitment to heart, teaching by example. Currently she sits on the board of the Peace Center for the Performing Arts. She was the board of the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce, and the Greenville County Museum Association Board. She has also served on the boards of Leadership Greenville, United Way and the Metropolitan Arts Council. Extensive board experience and being an animal advocate got her appointed the Chair of the Greenville Humane Society six months ago. Of the troubles the organization has faced recently she says, matter-of-factly, “We seem to be gaining back the community’s respect and affection, taking in more animals and adopting out more. Our save rate is definitely up.” Johnson believes animals are the soul of a family, just as arts are the soul of a community. “The citizens of Greenville will not give up on their animals. The Humane Society’s woes are finally being addressed,” she says, explaining how the new board put together a 90-day plan and farmed pieces of it out to different people who could offer their time and talent to help turn things around. “No one turned us down,” she says, “that is what is instrumental in making a comeback.” She credits the marketing efforts of Erwin-Penland as an example. Johnson shrugs off any hint of struggle, whether discussing the Humane Society’s uphill climb back into the hearts of Greenvillians, or her own challenges and career changes. Rather, she relates a charming story of learning how to buy a loaf of bread in France or speaks of the ease with which she herds her own dogs and cat into her truck for long road trips. “I only know my own experience,” she says with emphasis, “for instance, I went back to school twice. You can do anything. You just have to want it.”
