Mark A. Johnson is a retired Navy Captain with more than 30 years in the management and execution of strategic priorities in government, higher education, and corporate settings. Prior to joining Cal Poly Humboldt, he spent two years leading the Supply Chain team at MOD Pizza, a national fast-casual restaurant chain of more than 500 stores, through the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Johnson’s Navy career was highlighted by command of a destroyer squadron of 1,900 sailors operating eight ships across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. He was the first commanding officer, instructor, and administrator of the Naval Leadership & Ethics Center, an organization built to develop the character and leadership potential of every junior executive and senior manager in the Navy. Johnson has served as an advisor and special assistant to several senior executives in the Department of Defense, and has served as Chair of the Department of Naval Science at the University of Washington.
He has experience in project management, corporate change management, strategic and operational planning, risk management, and strategic communications. He earned a master’s degree in National Security Affairs from the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, and a bachelor’s degree in History from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.
