SUE JOHNSON NAMED NEW CHAIR OF UC’S BOARD OF REGENTS

LOS ANGELES – The University of California Board of Regents selected S. Sue Johnson today (May 18) as its chair for the coming year.

Johnson will succeed John G. Davies, a San Diego attorney who served as board chair for the past two years.

Johnson’s term will begin July 1. Johnson, a UC graduate who has served as a Regent for almost 10 years, is completing her second year as chair of the Regents’ committee on finance and is a member of the board’s committees on grounds and buildings and oversight of the Department of Energy laboratories.

"Sue Johnson is a hardworking, dedicated representative of the University of California," said Davies. "The board and the university will benefit greatly from her energy and leadership in the coming year."

The board also named Sherry L. Lansing, chairman of Paramount Motion Pictures Group, as vice chair.

Committee assignments and chairmanships were also approved at today’s meeting. The chairs of the Regents’ 2000-01 standing committees are: Ward Connerly (audit); Velma Montoya (educational policy); Peter Preuss (finance); Judith L. Hopkinson (investments); Joanne Kozberg (grounds and buildings); Howard H. Leach (oversight of the Department of Energy laboratories); and Mark W. Kohn (health services). Odessa Johnson was appointed as the Regents’ representative to the California Postsecondary Education Commission, with Montoya serving as the alternate representative.

Sue Johnson, who lives in Riverside, earned a bachelor’s degree in history from UC Riverside. As vice president of the Alumni Associations of the University of California, Johnson served a one-year, ex officio term on the Board of Regents in 1988-89. In September 1990, then-Gov. George Deukmejian appointed her to a 12-year term on the board.

Johnson is an active member of many civic organizations in the Inland Empire (Riverside-San Bernardino counties). She is on the board of directors of the Mission Inn Foundation and has served as president of the Friends of the Mission Inn. She also is a board member of the Riverside Community Hospital and president of the California Baptist Colleges Citizens Committee.

Johnson received the Greater Riverside Chamber of Commerce’s Citizen of the Year award in 1986 and was named a Woman of the Year by the California State Legislature in 1989.

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