Ann Johnston
Click image to view
Former Stockton City Councilwoman and mayoral candidate Ann Johnston says both her professional and political careers have stemmed from seeing community need and setting out to fill it.
Her experiences as a local businesswoman and elected official have included partnering in a Stockton industrial supply company with her husband Cliff, starting her own business venture The Ballonery, thirteen years on the Lodi school board, eight years on Stockton’s City Council, and two bids for mayor.
It was John F. Kennedy’s charge to “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” that inspired Johnston, now 65, to join the Peace Corps after graduating from San Francisco State University in 1965 with a degree in Social Science and a secondary teaching credential. In the Peace Corps, Johnston spent two years as an English teacher in Iran. She says that while there, she gained knowledge of Islam and Middle Eastern culture uncommon in most political candidates.
It’s her experience in business -- not her time abroad -- that she says is most valuable in her political life, though.
Johnston’s business acumen saw her being named as 1993 Stockton Chamber of Commerce Small Businessperson of the Year and 2003 U.S. Small Business Women in Business Advocate of the Year Award, and also honored with an Athena Award in 1999.
Johnston says her thirty years working in local business through boom years and tough markets alike have given her fortitude and sense of personal responsibility that she says she likewise brings into her political life.
“In running a business, you have to look at financing, profit and loss, and at decisions in terms of the sense they make,” explains Johnston, who served as the chairperson of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee during the early days of Stockton’s downtown redevelopment projects. “I think my experience as a business owner gave me a feel for the real world.”
Her experiences as a local businesswoman and elected official have included partnering in a Stockton industrial supply company with her husband Cliff, starting her own business venture The Ballonery, thirteen years on the Lodi school board, eight years on Stockton’s City Council, and two bids for mayor.
It was John F. Kennedy’s charge to “ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country” that inspired Johnston, now 65, to join the Peace Corps after graduating from San Francisco State University in 1965 with a degree in Social Science and a secondary teaching credential. In the Peace Corps, Johnston spent two years as an English teacher in Iran. She says that while there, she gained knowledge of Islam and Middle Eastern culture uncommon in most political candidates.
It’s her experience in business -- not her time abroad -- that she says is most valuable in her political life, though.
Johnston’s business acumen saw her being named as 1993 Stockton Chamber of Commerce Small Businessperson of the Year and 2003 U.S. Small Business Women in Business Advocate of the Year Award, and also honored with an Athena Award in 1999.
Johnston says her thirty years working in local business through boom years and tough markets alike have given her fortitude and sense of personal responsibility that she says she likewise brings into her political life.
“In running a business, you have to look at financing, profit and loss, and at decisions in terms of the sense they make,” explains Johnston, who served as the chairperson of the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee during the early days of Stockton’s downtown redevelopment projects. “I think my experience as a business owner gave me a feel for the real world.”