Brian L. Johnson is the new executive vice president and chief operating officer at Edward Waters University in Jacksonville, Florida. In this role, Dr. Johnson will work directly with the university’s President A. Zachary Faison, Jr. and Provost Genye H. Boston to translate institutional strategy and presidential priorities into disciplined execution across the HBCU.
Dr. Johnson comes to his new role with more than two decades of leadership in higher education. Most recently, he served as president of Warner Pacific University in Portland, Oregon, from 2020 to 2025. From 2014 to 2017, he was president of Tuskegee University in Alabama. Earlier in his career, Dr. Johnson held senior roles in strategic planning and academic affairs at Mercy College in New York and Austin Peay State University in Tennessee.
“I am deeply grateful to President Faison for the opportunity to serve Edward Waters University at this pivotal moment,” said Dr. Johnson. “President Faison’s visionary and transformational leadership has taken this historic institution from survival to genuine excellence, and the record speaks for itself: record enrollment, reaffirmed accreditation through 2035, sustained financial strength, and a rapidly rising national profile. It is a privilege to join his executive team, and I am humbled by the confidence he has placed in me. I look forward to working in close partnership with Provost Boston, my colleagues on the President’s executive cabinet, and the entire Edward Waters academic community to advance President Faison’s vision and help carry this University to even greater heights.”
An HBCU graduate, Dr. Johnson earned his bachelor’s degree in English from Johnson C. Smith University in Charlotte, North Carolina. He holds a master’s degree in English from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in English with a specialization in seventeenth- to nineteenth-century American literature from the University of South Carolina.
