Dr. Alicia M. Johnson is a visionary leader with three decades of experience driving change in both the public and private sectors. Prior to her 2025 election to the Public Service Commission, she specialized in community development, human services, managed care, nonprofit leadership, and organizational transformation.
Outside of her duties as a Commissioner, Johnson is the Southeast Regional Director for Healthcare Management Associates. Prior to her work with HMA, she was the first Savannah-born executive director of Step Up Savannah. Her work there helped more than 1,200 people secure self-sufficient employment, provided financial literacy and public benefits access to more than 10,000 households regionally, and launched a civic leadership training program training more than 125 Southeast Georgia emerging leaders. Johnson also played a key role in developing the region’s first minority-owned business services cooperative and Opportunity Index.
Commissioner Johnson’s professional background includes work as the director of Medicaid Marketing and Member Services at WellCare of Georgia, Inc. and as the first public information officer for the Eastern Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. She has also held multiple positions within the Savannah-Chatham County Public Schools District, including serving as the district’s grant writer and strategic planner.
Commissioner Johnson has held civic leadership roles including serving as co-chair of the Savannah Mayor’s Racial Equity and Leadership Taskforce, the Prosperity Now community champion and served as a member of the Invest Health Community Advisory Panel. She has been recognized as a National League of Cities Southern City Leader and a Bank of America Racial Economic Justice Fellow. She sits on numerous boards and supports a range of national projects, including Bloomberg America Sustainable Cities, Chatham County Employee Disciplinary Appeal Committee, and the East Savannah United Board of Directors. Her contributions to the Urban League of Greater Atlanta’s State of Black Georgia Report and her involvement in national and local panels highlight her commitment to systemic change.
Commissioner Johnson earned her doctorate in business administration – specializing in organizational leadership – from Northcentral University. She has a master’s degree in management and organizational leadership from the University of Phoenix and a bachelor’s degree, double majoring in English and communications, from Armstrong State University. She is also a certified grant writer, civil mediator, and lifetime facilitator for Bridges Out of Poverty.
Outside of her professional life, Commissioner Johnson is a devoted wife to illustrator and SCAD Professor Emeritus H. Pernell Johnson and a proud mother and grandmother. She balances her career with a deep-rooted commitment to faith, family, and community, ensuring her legacy of leadership continues to inspire future generations.
