Jan

Cheryl Johnson returns to head Office of Government Releations

Cheryl Johnson is the new Director of the Office of Government Relations, effective Feb. 5.

Cheryl Johnson’s appointment to the directorship of the Office of Government Relations is a homecoming for her. From 2006 to 2015, she served as a senior government relations associate in the office under her predecessor Nell Payne. In that role, Johnson worked with Smithsonian leadership and the Board of Regents to build and maintain strong relationships with Congress, specifically with the Congressional committees that have jurisdiction over our programs and appropriations. She also developed strategic legislative objectives, policies, and funding opportunities for the Smithsonian. Johnson worked with the senior leadership of the National Museum of African American History and Culture to secure the federal funding for its construction costs.

Cheryl Johnson

In 2015, Johnson left OGR to become the Senior Advisor and Chief of Staff to Lonnie Bunch, director of the National Museum of African American History and Culture. In this position, she provides strategic counsel to the museum’s leadership and staff on a broad range of initiatives. She is also responsible for government affairs management and for developing communications plans for the museum’s major announcements, including those related to collections and public programs, and its partnerships with cultural organizations, colleges and universities, and other national and global organizations.

Before joining the Smithsonian, Johnson was the Chief Education and Investigative Counsel for the Committee on Education and the Workforce in the U.S. House of Representatives (1996–2006). She served as the principal policy advisor and spokesperson for the committee. She investigated, assessed, and addressed concerns in elementary and secondary education, juvenile justice, child nutrition, labor issues, and older Americans’ employment and nutrition programs.

From 1989 to 1995, Johnson was the Staff Director and Counsel for the Committee on House Administration’s Subcommittee on Libraries and Memorials. She and her six-person staff worked with the subcommittee chair to exercise oversight and legislative responsibility over the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian.

Johnson received her bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Iowa and her law degree from Howard University. She also completed the senior management program at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Johnson succeeds Maura Reidy, who has served as Acting Director of Government Relations since Nell Payne retired in December 2016.