Dr. Ernest L. Johnson, Sr.

Ernest L. Johnson has over 33 years professional, leadership and management experience in a number of high-level legal, financial, educational, and civic and public policy positions. Most recently, Mr. Johnson was elected as a Member to the NAACP National Board of Directors in 2006, Chairman of the NAACP National Nominating Committee 2008 and Chairman of the Member and Units Committee in 2009. In 2001, he was appointed by the President and confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as a public delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. A 1973 honors graduate of Grambling State University with a major in political science and a minor in economics, Mr. Johnson earned his law degree from Southern University Law Center, where he also received recognition for numerous academic and civic achievements, including election to the office of president of Southern’s Student Bar Association. In 2007, he was inducted into the Southern University Law Center Alumni Hall of Fame. As an added extra, in 2006, he received his first patent as inventor of an automatic hair washing device “the RediWash” from the United States Patent Office in Washington, D. C.

After a distinguished academic career in which he was awarded the prestigious Earl Warren Legal Fellowship and the Baker-Voorhis Award, among other honors, Mr. Johnson established a multifaceted legal practice specializing in general, corporate and Civil Rights litigation. Over the past 33 years, Mr. Johnson has served as lead counsel, co-counsel or legal consultant on a number of high profile public interest and Civil Rights cases that have had a profoundly positive and lasting impact on justice for minorities, the quality of public and higher education, and the resolution of legal issues related to financial and insurance industries. Including serving as lead counsel in the Case of Clark v. Edwards, which lead to the interrogation of the Louisiana Judicial System in 1991.

Beyond his legal career, Mr. Johnson, an ordained Minister, has achieved distinction in numerous other educational and civic endeavors. He served for one year as vice-chairman of the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Grambling State University, which resulted in significant operational and educational improvements, and has served as an adjunct professor at Southern University Law School since 1984 teaching Civil Rights Litigation, Trial Advocacy and Law Office Management. He is the senior pastor of Windows of Heaven Ministry.

His past civic achievements are also noteworthy. He has been President of the Louisiana State Conference of the NAACP being elected in 1995 and served as a member of the NAACP’s National Resolutions Committee from Region VI for twelve years. During his tenure with the NAACP, he has consistently won many of the top awards for related achievements, including the Alexander Pierre Tureaud Award, the Thalheimer Award, Kelly M. Alexander Award in 1997 and 2008, and the Medgar Evers Award, to name a few.

Mr. Johnson has an extensive and proven working knowledge of financial and insurance institutions, budgeting and personnel management procedures. Since 1996, he has been president and CEO of Louisiana Community Development Capital Fund, Inc., (Capfund) a consulting company that provides financial and business management assistance to small emerging businesses. He also served as President and CEO of Life Savings Bank in Baton Rouge for three years. He has gain extensive experience in radio station business development serving as co-founder of WNDC-AM Baton Rouge (1988), KCLF-AM New Roads (1990), WTQT FM Baton Rouge, KVTZ-FM Breaux Bridge, KOUS-FM Monroe and KTJZ-FM Tallulah. Mr. Johnson filed all documentation required to obtain FCC approval for these stations, developed operating procedures for each and served as operations compliance officers.