Lester Johnson (entrepreneur)

Lester Johnson is a former government executive and entrepreneur.

Currently he is the founder and principal of Les Johnson & Associates and Washington Avenue International - consulting firms based in Washington D.C. He has over thirty years of experience in the state, federal and private sector.

Personal background and education

Lester Johnson was born near Grand Rapids, Michigan. His father was a farmer and a construction worker and his mother a nurse.

Mr. Johnson graduated cum laude from Central Michigan University with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and Political Science and studied Urban Planning at Rutgers University.

He earned his Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Chicago’s Booth Executive MBA Program, consistently ranked in the top five MBA programs in the world, in June 1998 where he studied in Chicago and Barcelona with executives from more than 30 countries.

Mr. Johnson has also studied leadership and management with programs from Stephen Covey, Tony Robbins, Sid Simon and Robert Dilts and is an authorized trainer for Covey’s 7 Habits of Effective People, a program which focuses on ethics and moral frameworks.

Mr. Johnson’s philosophy has been to develop long-term business relationships built on reliability and mutual trust. He believes in involving all of the key people necessary to make a project successful and putting together the best team of specialists he can assemble. Mr. Johnson has extensive contacts in both government and business throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Africa.

He has a personal interest in how people live and do business in other countries.

Professional experience

Mr. Johnson began his government career in 1975 as a State Level Manager for the state of New Jersey where he worked on a team that successfully reduced expenditures from over $50 million to under $25 million in 18 months time. He gained extensive experience in rooting out fraud and abuse through policy oversight, monitoring and prosecution.

He then worked for the state of New York and the USDA where he managed all upstate NY programs and oversaw all contracting and food company operations.

From 1981 through 1985, Mr. Johnson worked as a Program Specialist for the USDA and Food and Nutrition Service in Alexandria, Virginia, where he conducted analysis, policy formulation, computer matching, and fraud, waste and abuse prevention.

In 1983, Mr. Johnson ventured into business as he recognized the opportunities that accompanied the growing popularity of computers, and founded and operated the first computer furniture business and store in the Washington, DC area. What began as a part-time business eventually grew into a full-time store operating out of Alexandria, Virginia.

From 1987 through 1989, Mr. Johnson worked as a Business Broker in Lanham, Maryland where he made deals between business buyers and sellers from beginning to closing. He observed and learned from the intimate financial details of hundreds of small businesses, developed marketing materials, negotiated selling prices, and worked extensively with buyers and sellers over a several month period to structure and close deals.

Mr. Johnson later worked as Vice President of Marketing and Sales for Applied Business Systems of Bethesda, Maryland, where he managed marketing and sales operations for the computer network and accounting software firm.

In 1991, Mr. Johnson moved back to the government sector where he worked for the Food and Nutrition Service of the USDA. He first worked as a Program Specialist for the Food Stamp Program where he led a project to develop a major food stamp issuance reporting procedure document, before working as a PCIMS Project Manager where he oversaw the FNS portion of a multi-million dollar computing system and gained extensive training and experience in the contracting and procurement of computer services.

Mr. Johnson moved to the Food Distribution Division at the USDA, initially as a Project Manager over a multi-million dollar computer system and then as Branch Chief, before being promoted in 1995 to Director. As Director of the USDA Food Distribution Division, he managed over 50 staff, a budget of over $1.2 billion, and was responsible for four national federal programs. In this capacity, he developed procedures, policies, regulations, legislative proposals as well as oversaw nationwide operations.

During his time as Director, Mr. Johnson developed and led the largest successful business process reengineering effort ever implemented to improve USDA’s commodity programs. The effort spanned two years and included four USDA Agencies, states, schools, contractor staff and key associations. He worked closely with the Associate Administrators and made regular presentations at the Under Secretary level.

Les Johnson & Associates

In 2002, Mr. Johnson founded Les Johnson & Associates as a Washington-based consulting firm providing services to companies involved with USDA’s food programs. He and his staff worked with food companies, high tech companies, non-profit organizations and others involved with the USDA and government feeding programs.

Specifically, Les Johnson & Associates provided consultation on the structure and operations of government and various federal programs, and facilitated activities and deal making for entities involved with USDA’s programs. In addition, Mr. Johnson performed contract work with both SAIC and Booz Allen.

Washington Avenue International

In 2009, Les Johnson & Associates shifted focus toward international advisory services, particularly in China and Nigeria, and for this purpose underwent a name-change to become Washington Avenue International.

Washington Avenue International utilizes Les Johnson’s extensive network of contacts in the United States, has developed long-term partnerships with government agencies and companies in China and Nigeria, and has hired several full-time employees with extensive personal and professional backgrounds in these areas.

Most recently, Washington Avenue International has advised Chinese government agencies and companies in Jiangsu, Shandong and Zhejiang Provinces, and is also doing work on projects in partnership with several universities in China. In addition, Washington Avenue International is currently working on business and educational projects in Nigeria.

Additional experience

Mr. Johnson is the Vice President of the University of Chicago’s Business School Alumni Association in Washington, DC and works closely with the Harvard, Wharton, New York University and Columbia Alumni Associations.

He is an Executive in Residence at the University of Chicago and is called on to do seminars for graduates interested in working for the federal government.

At Central Michigan University, he advises Deans on placement and China-related issues. He meets with and provides advice to recent graduates from both universities.

He is a member of the University Club in Washington, DC, the Asia Society and the American Meat Association, the American Commodity Distribution Association and the School Nutrition Association.

He has been interviewed by newspapers including the Wall Street Journal and USAToday.

Awards

In January 2002, he became the first federal employee to receive the prestigious FAME Award from the American School Food Service Association.

In September 2002, he became the first federal employee to be awarded the Public Service Award from America’s Second Harvest for improving federal feeding programs.

He has also earned numerous awards for streamlining operations and innovation in government.