With a focus on international social entrepreneurship as a mode of change, Annette McGee Johnson’s work is a testament to thinking and acting globally.
Annette most recently worked as Global Legal Counsel for Ashoka, a non-profit organization focused on the support and development of leading social entrepreneurs across the globe. For several years, Annette was central to the transformation of the office to what is now the Integrity Team, responsible for legal matters for the organization across the world; corporate governance; organizational risk mitigation; and external engagement staffing internal and Ashoka Fellows organization legal needs through an instrumental network of pro bono legal relationships. Following her recent return from maternity leave, Annette has now shifted to the role of Legal Counsel, Strategic and External Engagement. In her current role she helps guide team strategy from an institutional knowledge lens; expanding the team’s external engagement portfolio; and providing legal guidance and strategic expertise to Ashoka’s Diaspora and Mutual Help Security teams.
Annette holds a juris doctor from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from Lewis and Clark College. After law school, she clerked for the Honorable Cheryl Albrecht with the Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland, Oregon. After her clerkship, she returned to her birth country of Liberia where she contributed to post-war peacebuilding and legal development. There, she worked with the James A.A. Pierre Judicial Institution at the Temple of Justice, Liberia’s supreme court, to create instructional texts for magistrates. In addition, she established the Child Justice Section at the Ministry of Justice in Liberia and spearheaded the country’s first juvenile diversion program.
A mother and wife, Annette considers herself a pan-African and creative to the core. Annette currently resides in Northern Virginia.
