Pentagon’s Clarence A. Johnson to keynote the 30th Annual Black Excellence Awards

The Milwaukee Times will welcome Clarence A. “CJ” Johnson as keynote speaker for the 30th Anniversary Black Excellence Awards set for Friday, February 27, 2015 at the Italian Conference Center in downtown Milwaukee. Johnson is Director, Office of Diversity Management and Equal Opportunity for the U.S. Department of Defense. In that capacity, he is responsible for the development and coordination of diversity management and equal opportunities policies and programs affecting all Department of Defense civilian employees and Department of Defense military personnel within the department worldwide. He serves as principal advisor to the Under Secretary of Defense (Personnel & Readiness) on diversity management, equal opportunity, and equal employment opportunity matters. “We are pleased to have Mr. Johnson as our keynote speaker, given the fact that we are celebrating ‘Women in the Military’ as this year’s special honorees category,” said Jacquelyn Heath, Black Excellence Awards project manager. “He will add a special touch to the program as we pay tribute to the service and sacrifice of these outstanding female veterans in our community, as well as the contribution of the non-military Milwaukeeans and scholars being honored this year.” Before serving the Department of Defense as a civil servant, Mr. Johnson was an active duty Air Force colo- nel serving in the Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Equal Opportunity as Director, Military Equal Opportunity. He formulated and provided policy guidance to the military components regarding policies which prescribe, promote, coordinate and enforce equal opportunity and treatment of active duty and Reserve component military personnel; oversaw policy implementation and evaluated/ monitored the per- formance of De- fense Department component pro- grams; and provided staff oversight for the Defense Equal Opportu- nity Management Institute, the Department’s premiere school in equal opportunity and equal employment opportunity training, education and research. Mr. Johnson earned a master’s degree in human resource management from Webster University in Missouri; and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Tuskegee University in Alabama. He is also a graduate of Air Command and Staff College and the War College, Alabama, and the National Security Management Course, National Defense University. His decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal (with one oak leaf cluster), the Legion of Merit, and the Meritorious Service Medal (with three oak leaf clusters). For tickets and more in- formation call Milwaukee Times office at (414) 263- 5088.