As ACA’s longest-serving CEO, Johnson helped shape the association into a dynamic, politically minded, international force.
01/13/2023 12:10 P.M.
4 minute read
ACA International’s CEO from 1956-1996, John Warren Johnson, 93, passed away on Jan. 6, 2023. Johnson led ACA for 40 years, and in that time, he ushered the association through a number of changes, including the construction of a new headquarters building, the dawn of the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the launch of ACA’s first website.
Born Jan. 29, 1929, in Minneapolis, Johnson received his bachelor’s degree in economics and political science from the University of Minnesota. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1951-1953.
In 1954, Johnson decided to run for a position on the Minneapolis City Council. However, the company employing him at the time didn’t support his decision. When Johnson lost his election bid, he was left without a job. In 1955, he was hired as ACA’s assistant executive secretary.
“During that first year, I almost quit,” Johnson told Collector magazine in 1996. “There was very little to do. I wrapped packages, ran the mailroom, mowed the lawn—whatever I could find to keep busy.”
When ACA Executive Secretary Glenn Sanberg left at the end of 1956, Johnson stepped in as acting executive secretary. In March 1957, after considering more than 125 applicants, ACA’s board of directors announced that Johnson had been named executive secretary. Years later this title was changed to CEO, and it remained a leadership role Johnson retained until he retired in 1996.
Johnson was a driving force in the accounts receivables management industry, speaking on ACA members’ behalf at congressional hearings for bills impacting the industry and writing columns for Collector magazine, championing members’ efforts to help consumers. Under his stewardship, ACA grew to offer an insurance program, new membership divisions, a lobbying arm and dozens of new educational seminars. He was also enthusiastic about technology and spearheaded ACA’s data processing division.
In 1965, Johnson formed the International Collectors Association and traveled with three ACA past presidents to Europe to recruit members. Today, ACA’s membership includes people from close to three dozen countries.
Johnson served on the Minneapolis City Council from 1963 to 1967 and in the Minnesota House of Representatives from 1976 to 1974, including stints as assistant majority leader and assistant speaker of the house. In 1974, Johnson ran as the Republican nominee for the Minnesota gubernatorial race.
He frequently traveled between ACA’s headquarters in Edina and the state capitol building—a 20-minute drive—squeezing in extra work whenever he had time.
“Days became long toward the end of the legislative sessions,” Johnson said. “I’d come back to ACA Center for a few hours between meetings and take everything on my desk with me. I’d sit on the floor of the House of Representatives with all my work, and when things about which I had no interest were being debated, I’d go to the back of the house floor and dictate to my secretary at ACA over the phone.”
Johnson was passionate about travel, having visited more than 200 countries—several more than once. “I’ve always felt that every trip overseas is worth the equivalent to one year of college in education value,” he wrote in his 1996 Collector magazine column.
He was also a prolific author with eight books to his name, including “53 Days to Beijing,” “Consumer Credit Grantor’s Guide to Credit Granting, Billing and Collecting” and “The Use of Humor in Public Speaking is No Joke.”
Johnson held several elected positions within the American Society of Association Executives (ASAE), including chairman of the board. In 1966, ASAE presented him its highest honor, the Key Award.
In 1988, Johnson was elected Association Executive of the Year by the readers of Association Trends magazine. And in 1995, he was selected as one of the Ten Heroes of the Association Management Professionals during the past 75 years.
“I had the pleasure of working for John for 12 years when I started my career at ACA,” said Ted Smith, ACA’s chief operating officer. “John was always looking to the future for the association and the industry. His ability to foster relationships, identify leaders and develop progressive association meetings, products and services was very impressive and was recognized by the American Society of Association Executives when they named him chairman. In the classic sense, he was a builder. His influence can still be seen today in ACA’s insurance program (CIA)—started some 50 years ago—as well as the popular Committee of 100 meeting.”
In an article in the July 1996 Collector magazine commemorating Johnson’s 40 years as ACA CEO, Linda Russell, 1991/92 ACA president, said, “Not a day goes by that I don’t do something [that] traces back to things John has told us or shown us by his example, and remember with pleasure and gratitude from whom we learned it.”
Johnson is preceded in death by his wife, Marion, and survived by their three children, Daniel (Terri), Karen (Richard) and Nancy, and several grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
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