Broderick Johnson
Broderick Johnson is a Founding Partner of the Collins | Johnson group. Most recently, Johnson was a partner at Bryan Cave LLP, an international law firm, where he headed the public policy and government affairs practice. While at Bryan Cave, Johnson also served on the firm's exclusive executive committee.
Johnson has been closely involved in the last several Democratic presidential campaigns. He currently serves as a Senior Advisor in President Barack Obama's 2012 re-election campaign. His role includes serving as a member of the senior staff, a national surrogate for the campaign, and as its representative in meetings with key leaders, communities and organizations. In 2008, he served as an informal advisor to the Obama presidential campaign, offering strategic political advice and traveling across the United States as a surrogate speaker and campaign volunteer. In 2004 he was appointed a senior advisor for congressional affairs in the Kerry presidential campaign.
From 1998-2000, Johnson served in senior roles in the Clinton White House, among them as Deputy Assistant to the President for Legislative Affairs. In that role, Johnson was President Clinton's principal liaison to the U.S. House of Representatives. Among his accomplishments, Johnson helped steer congressional approval of legislation extending permanent normal trade relations to China.
Johnson began his professional career in the nation's capital in 1983, as an Assistant Counsel in the Office of Legislative Counsel of the U.S. House of Representatives. Over his six year tenure, Johnson drafted hundreds of bill, amendments, and resolutions for Members and Committees of Congress. Among the major pieces of legislation Johnson drafted were the landmark Family and Medical Leave Act, as well as the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 ("Simpson-Mazola"). Johnson later served as Chief Democratic Counsel for two House Committees-the Committee on the District of Columbia and the Committee on Education and the Workforce. Those multiple appointments led Johnson to earn a valued reputation as a parliamentary expert and legislative tactician.
Upon leaving the White House in 2000, Johnson joined AT&T and Bell South corporations, respectively, as vice-president for congressional affairs. For both companies, Johnson advocated before the Congress on a broad range of public policy issues central to the telecommunications industry. Among those issues were several tax-related measures, including preempting State and local taxes on Internet access and extending Federal tax credits designed to help Bell South recover from economic harm caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Johnson, a native of Baltimore, Maryland, currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Commission to Engage African Americans on Climate Change. Throughout his life, Johnson has been a leader in numerous philanthropic and social causes, most notably serving on the boards of the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, Project Northstar, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, Close Up Foundation, and Video Action. Johnson holds a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the College of the Holy Cross (1978) and a law degree from the University of Michigan Law School (1983). He lectures on government relations and public policy at the University of Michigan. Johnson is a member of the District of Columbia bar.
Johnson resides in the District of Columbia with his wife and three children. No surprise, Johnson is a rabid supporter of the Wolverines.
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