Reverend Tawana Thomas Johnson
Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer — American Cancer Society
Tawana Thomas Johnson serves as the Senior Vice President, Chief Diversity Officer for the American Cancer Society. In this mission-critical role, she is responsible for leading efforts to design and implement strategies that drive diversity, equity and inclusion on an enterprise-wide basis. She has more than twenty years of experience in public health, community development, advocacy, and diversity and inclusion.
Since joining the American Cancer Society in 2006 as the Director of Health Disparities, she has led the development of outreach tools, programs and resources to increase awareness of the unequal burden of cancer in diverse communities resulting in the significant increase of diverse constituents utilizing the Society's program and services. Among these tools is the "More Than Conquerors" documentary, which features testimonies and interviews with cancer survivors, caregivers, physicians and renown clergy for which she served as executive producer. The documentary received national acclaim and premiered at the National Black Film Festival.
She has successfully led the American Cancer Society in increasing workforce diversity at all levels of the organization, addressing pay parity and significantly improving employee engagement. Under her leadership, the Society joined the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, joining more than 1600 organizations committed to driving diversity and inclusion within their organizations. Her role also includes engaging corporate executives, high-level donors and leadership volunteers in furthering the fight against cancer through revenue generation and mission engagement.
Additionally, Thomas Johnson has served in leadership capacities with several national organizations including the African Heritage Studies Association, the Links Incorporated, and the NAACP. Currently, she is the national chair of the Health Equity Ambassador Links committee for the Links, Incorporated. A native New Yorker, she received her undergraduate and graduate education at the City University of New York, Queens College. She is also an alumnus of the executive leadership program at Columbia University.
Thomas Johnson is an ordained Baptist minister and serves as an associate minister at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Flushing, NY. She is a highly sought-after speaker who has ministered throughout the nation and presented at myriad conferences including the Forum on Workplace Inclusion, HR Management Institute Conference, Leading Women Defined, Hampton Ministers Conference, National Baptist Convention, BET Women's Health Symposium and the Essence Music Festival.