Valerie L. Johnson

Valerie Johnson is a native New Yorker and lived in the Marcy Houses until she was 14. She is a graduate of C.W. Post College (LIU) where she earned a B.S. in Accounting and later became a Certified Public Accountant. In the early years of her career, she held various auditing and analyst positions. She later became an investment banker specializing in public finance and was subsequently appointed finance director of the City of Detroit. Upon her return to New York City, she became the chief operating officer of a nonprofit formed to support a traditional public school in Harlem. That position led Valerie to officially join the teaching profession. She taught mathematics to middle school students in Harlem and supported fellow teachers as math coach, team leader, and data specialist. She also initiated after school activities to promote interest in math and science and wrote grants to support these efforts and to increase the availability of technology as a tool to enhance teaching and facilitate student independence. After her retirement, Valerie continued her involvement in middle school mathematics as a volunteer educator and also served as an independent peer-evaluator for at-risk teachers. She went on to help start a nonprofit organization that provides after-school programming, and she served as that organization’s first Board Chair and Treasurer. In 2019, Valerie was instrumental in the formation of the Marcy Houses Memorial Scholarship Fund and continues to serve as Board Chair and Program Administrator.  She is a member of the Bed-Stuy NeONWorks Stakeholders Group and serves on its Economic Development Committee. She holds a Masters in Business Administration from Yale University and a Masters in Education from Hunter College.