Marie C. Johns

Marie C. Johns has over 30 years’ experience as a leader in business, civic, and government service. Ms. Johns focuses on community service in the areas of education and economic development. She served as President of Verizon Washington and was nominated by President Barack Obama to serve as Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration, (“SBA”). In 2011, under Ms. Johns’ leadership and initiatives, the SBA lent more than $30 billion to more than 60,000 small businesses, a record in the history of the SBA. Over 10 years ago, Ms. Johns founded L&L Consulting, LLC (now PPC-Leftwich LLC), a business development, organizational effectiveness and public policy consulting practice, which is based in Washington, D.C. and where she continues to serve as CEO Ms. Johns has served on several boards of directors, including the Federal City Council, the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., the Washington, D.C. Chamber of Commerce, WLR Foods (a poultry producer), Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic Region, Hager Sharp (a communications and marketing firm), Document Systems Inc. (a document imaging and storage firm) and Harvest Bank of Maryland. Ms. Johns is a Trustee of Howard University where she chairs the Student Life Committee and serves as vice chair of the Governance Committee. Ms. Johns is a member of the Greater Washington, D.C. Business Hall of Fame, one of the Greater Washington Board of Trade’s “Leaders of the Year” and the recipient of over 100 awards from different organizations for her community service. Ms. Johns received her B.S. and M.P.A. degrees from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University where she currently serves as a member of the Dean’s Council and she formerly served as a Board member for the Tobias Center for Leadership Excellence. Prior to the completion of the Merger, Ms. Johns, served as a Director since 2014, and as Chair of the Board of CFBanc since 2018. She was appointed to be the Lead Independent Director of the Company in 2021.

Ms. Johns has over 30 years executive management experience in the public and corporate sectors. She has served on a variety of private company and not-for-profit boards and has expertise in governance, regulatory issues, business development, and the Washington D.C. market.