Thursday, August 20, 2020, 1-2 pm

Courageous Conversations with Sheree welcomes the 64th Mayor and Savannah's REAL Taskforce appointee, Dr. Otis S. Johnson. Dr. Johnon was recently appointed by Savannah's current Mayor Van Johnson, II to develop strategies that focus on racial equity and leadership throughout the city. Join us this Thursday at 107.5 FM or WRUU.org.

Otis S. Johnson, Ph.D.

Former Scholar in Residence

Savannah State University

Former Mayor, City of Savannah, Georgia

Dr. Otis Samuel Johnson served as Scholar in Residence at Savannah State University from

February 2012 to May 2019 after serving eight years as the 64th Mayor of the city of Savannah,

Georgia. He was elected to Mayor in 2003 and reelected in 2007. He ended his second term on

December 31, 2011. Dr. Johnson was prohibited from running for a third four-year term because

of a term limit law. While mayor, Dr. Johnson provided leadership for the creation of Step Up

Savannah, Inc., a poverty reduction initiative, and Healthy Savannah, an initiative that promotes

healthy lifestyles.

Dr. Johnson has devoted his professional career to making conditions better for low wealth

families in Savannah and the South. He worked for the Economic Opportunity Authority and the

Model Cities Program before he began teaching at Savannah State University in 1971. He

organized the undergraduate program in social work at Savannah State University. Dr. Johnson

was elected to the Savannah City Council in 1982 and reelected in 1986. He resigned from the

City Council and a tenured faculty position at Savannah State University in 1988 to become

Executive Director of the Annie E. Casey Foundation supported Chatham Savannah Youth

Futures Authority. The Youth Futures Authority was a collaborative of organizations that

worked with children and families that needed help. Dr. Johnson returned to Savannah State

University in 1998 as Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and was elected, without opposition, to

a four-year term on the Savannah Chatham County Board of Public Education. Dr. Johnson

retired from Savannah State University in 2002 and did not run for reelection to the Board of

Education in order to prepare for his campaign for mayor.

Dr. Johnson was a founding member of the Aspen Institute Roundtable on Comprehensive

Community Initiatives in 1992 and the National Community Building Network in 1993. He was

a member of the founding board of directors of the Georgia Campaign for Adolescent Pregnancy

Prevention (G-CAPP) in 1995. He founded the Neighborhood Improvement Association (NIA),

a local community development corporation, in Savannah in 1996.

Dr. Johnson was a member of the National League of Cities Council on Youth, Education and

Families during his eight years as mayor, chairing the Council in 2009. He served on the boards

of the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, the Georgia Municipal Association, MDC, Inc. in

Durham, NC, the Harris Neck Land Trust in McIntosh County, GA, Step Up Savannah, Inc. and

Healthy Savannah. He is currently on the board of the Georgia Foundation for Public Education.

Dr. Johnson earned his doctorate degree from the Heller School in 1980.