New Chief at United Way: For 22 Years, Michael Johnston Has Lived a Dual Life

By Jack Coraggio

For more than two decades, Mr. Johnston of Wilton, who three weeks ago was named the new Chief Executive Officer of the United Way of Western Connecticut, migrated back-and-forth between the profit-driven, button-down world of private sector financial services and planning to the almost contradictory field of nonprofit, community-based volunteerism and humanitarian aid.

It was complementary balance, a parallel that benefited his family and the community abroad. But in the recent past, Mr. Johnston started to ponder the kind of footprint he will have left on this planet. Though it is fair to say he has already done more than his share of giving back, there was still more he looked to achieve.

"After a lot of years in business, I started to think to myself, 'What is going to be my legacy?'" said Mr. Johnston, from the Danbury United Way office. "I decided my alternate career [in volunteer work] was more meaningful to me. And then this position came open."

Said position came open when June Renzulli, who was the local chapter's CEO for 13 years, retired last month. She left a large hole in the organization, one that Mr. Johnston, who was chosen from a pool of more than 60 candidates, knows will be a challenge to fill. But given his successful background in fiscal planning, coupled with his extensive record of nonprofit activism, the Minnesota-born husband and father of one is more than capable.

After all, with 1,300 offices throughout the country, the privately funded United Way makes it its duty to efficiently manage, organize and mobilize charitable organizations in an effort to better identify and resolve issues affecting the region. While focusing on matters of health, education and financial stability, it has a history of building partnerships with schools, government agencies, businesses, financial institutions, community development corporations, faith-based organizations and neighborhood associations.

And managing finances, ensuring businesses operate soundly and building relationships is the bulk of Mr. Johnston's resume. It's those credentials, according to Rey Giallongo, who sits on the board of directors, that concreted his new position.

"The board of directors wanted a visionary leader. Someone who could strategically position United Way for the greatest impact in our communities well into the next decade," stated Mr. Giallongo. "We are confident that the organization will thrive under his leadership."

With an MBA and a Master of Urban Planning from New York University, Mr. Johnston started his career working in New York City on Wall Street and as an economic analyst in the Department of City Planning. In addition, he spent about eight years with GE Capital in New York and Stamford. Subsequent to that, he moved into the burgeoning world of e-commerce, where he spent a couple of years as chief financial officer for several early-stage, venture-backed companies of Web business.

But with a burning desire to contribute to more than just the tax-base, Mr. Johnston constantly volunteered his time to local food pantries, clothing drives, programs that offer companionship to the terminally ill and overflow homeless shelters.
"My parents left me with a legacy of community service," commented Mr. Johnston, who noted that his folks were active in programs such as suicide prevention hotlines and Meals-on-Wheels, an organization that delivers food to the homebound.

On top of his seemingly genetic willingness to help, Mr. Johnston notes that given the state of the economy, now is a greater time than ever to volunteer.

"We're in pretty difficult times, and it is easy to get discouraged by the economic headlines, and it is easy to cynical and skeptical about the future," said Mr. Johnston. "But that's the great thing about the United Way. This is the time and the reason and circumstances for which the United Way was created. If there was ever a time to pull together and find each other it is now."

Certainly, the times are tough. Mr. Johnston recently received reports from various food drives that many of the people coming to get fed are the very ones who a year ago would have been making contributions.

As far as Mr. Johnston is concerned, nobody is immune to the crisis. Then again, even when the economy is strong, people can hit rough patches. He recalled an evening a few years back, while helping out at a homeless shelter, when he noticed that one of the other volunteers became very affected by the sight of a young homeless man. When Mr. Johnston asked if the other volunteer everything was OK, his coworker's response: "I went to high school with that guy."

That evening taught Mr. Johnston a lesson-social problems often hit closer than expected. At a recent program the United Way contributed to, which provided social services to homeless in Danbury, Mr. Johnston was surprised, and saddened, to see 166 homeless people show.

Still, different communities face unique challenges, as Mr. Johnston has noted in his short tenure as the CEO. Leading the state's Western Chapter, he has offices in Stamford, Danbury and New Milford, three regions that, from south to north, decrease in size and complications.

Stamford and Danbury have large foreign-born populations, which come with their own set of educational and social challenges. In New Milford, on the other hand, the United Way has seen itself assist in building youth leadership programs for the area's younger generation.

And the younger generation should play a key role in progressing the movement of volunteerism in this country. Mr. Johnston noted that President-elect Barack Obama ought to bring a sense of grassroots empowerment to the White House, and with that, a renewed vigor for the next generation of potential contributors.

He has even seen it in his 17-year-old daughter, Andrea, who has developed a desire to volunteer. An observation Mr. Johnston's parents surely made of him.

©Litchfield County Times 2008