David Johnson’s path to becoming a prominent IT leader in the City of Austin is rooted in humble beginnings. Raised on a generational farm in southern Oklahoma by his grandparents, Johnson learned resilience early in life. “We grew our own food. I didn’t even realize we were poor until the school lunch program,” he reflects.
Those lessons of self-reliance shaped a career built on determination rather than traditional milestones. Despite earning his college degree later in life—graduating from Covenant College in 2010—Johnson was already embedded in the IT world long before. His journey began with American Airlines in Fort Worth in 1989, where he helped establish the company’s SAP infrastructure—laying the foundation for enterprise-scale systems.
His career progressed through roles at Solid Systems in Houston and Deloitte & Touche Outsourcing in Philadelphia, where he honed his skills in managed services, vendor relations, and hybrid IT operations. In 2003, he took on a mission-critical role at ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), supporting the state’s power grid during the early days of deregulation. As Director of IT Operations, he helped manage over 35 million daily transactions and introduced ITIL-based service management to boost reliability and compliance.
Johnson’s leadership at EPB in Chattanooga further solidified his reputation as a tech trailblazer. As VP and CIO, he led the development of one of North America’s first fully automated electric grids. He also oversaw the creation of multiple high-availability data centers, implemented large-scale data analytics, and pioneered early cloud adoption with platforms like AWS and Azure.
In 2021, he returned to Texas to serve as CIO in Austin, bringing his private-sector experience into the public utility space. Johnson spearheaded a sweeping digital transformation, modernizing ERP and HRIS systems, implementing compliance protocols for HIPAA, PCI, and PII, and advancing a hybrid cloud approach to enhance scalability and resilience.
Leadership, Johnson believes, is rooted in authenticity and empowerment. “You lead people, not manage them,” he says. Over more than a decade, he’s maintained a 100% retention rate for key technical staff—an achievement he attributes to mentorship and transparent goal-setting.
Beyond the boardroom, Johnson remains deeply connected to community service. He’s contributed to advisory boards at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and Chattanooga State and serves on the board for Abundant Life Children’s Home in Texas. In his personal time, he still helps manage his family’s farm and remains active in the Masonic Flora Lodge in Quitman, TX.
“What drives me,” Johnson says, “is building systems that matter—and giving my family the stability I didn’t always have.”
From the quiet fields of Oklahoma to the cutting-edge of public-sector IT in Austin, David Johnson’s story is one of perseverance, purpose, and people-first leadership.
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Source: Ceoworld.Biz
