Mr. John W. “Johnny” Johnson, prior to April 10, 2013, was Chairman of Permian Mud Service, Inc. and Chairman of the Executive Committee of its subsidiary, Champion Technologies, Inc. Permian and Champion were merged into Ecolab on that day. At the time, the merged companies were doing more than $1.4 billion in sales and employed approximately 3,200 people. Mr. Johnson continues to be engaged with the residual companies, Johnson & Lindley, LLC, with interests in oil & gas exploration/production and Athlon Solutions, LLC, a chemical provider to refineries and petrochemical plants. He was founding chairman of Amegy Bank of Texas (1981) and serves as chairman of the bank board’s executive committee.
He is a former commissioner of the Texas Transportation Commission which oversees statewide activities of the Texas Department of Transportation. Johnson was appointed commissioner by Gov. George W Bush, effective February 1999. Johnson became the commission’s chair in April 2000 and served in that role until January 29, 2004. He left the Commission in January, 2007, after almost 8 years of service. In 2014, Johnson received the Russell H. Perry Award, presented by the Texas Transportation Institute for outstanding contributions to transportation in gaining public awareness of the need for, and benefits of, adequate highway transportation facilities in the state of Texas.
In 2006, he was presented the Benjamin Banneker Community Builder Award by the Barbara Jordan and Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs at Texas Southern University, and in 2003, Johnson received the Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson Award for Leadership in Transportation. Johnson served on the Governor’s Business Council and on the Task Force on Charter Schools. He and his wife, Ann, were actively engaged in the development of charter schools KIPP and YES Prep. In the fall of 2001, President George W Bush named Johnson to serve on the J William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, a position held for more than ten years. In 2013, he was presented the Scenic Visionary award from Scenic Houston.
Johnson graduated from Vanderbilt University in 1968 and is a former member of Vanderbilt Board of Trust and received the Flowers Underwood Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1996. In addition to his time on the Vanderbilt Board of Trust, he has served as president of its Alumni Association (1997-1998) and the Houston Vanderbilt Club (1972-1974). He was inducted into the Academy of Distinguished Alumni by the School of Engineering in 2007.
A former trustee of St. Luke’s Methodist Church Foundation, Johnson also was chairman of the board of the Houston Museum of Natural Science (1992) and of St John’s School (1992-1998). He received the St. John’s School Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2002. He is a past director of Goodwill Industries and was actively involved with the American Leadership Forum and the Young Presidents’ Organization. He currently serves as Chairman of the Houston Methodist Hospital Foundation Board.