Chacona Winters Johnson

Chacona Winters Johnson is President and CEO of the Detroit Public Schools Foundation, a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to raising, managing and stewarding funds and other resources to support value-added programs and activities for Detroit students.

Prior to her appointment as CEO in 2009, Chacona had a 23-year career with the University of Michigan. Johnson was a part of the University’s fund raising management team undertaking a $2.5 billion campaign. Her responsibilities included cultivating, soliciting and stewarding leadership gifts, overseeing the President’s Advisory Group activities and serving as special counsel to a number of deans and directors. She worked closely with the President, Vice President for Development and the Campaign Chair. Johnson’s first assignment at the University was in 1984 as Area Director for the first Campaign for Michigan.

Johnson has received numerous accolades, including one of the 2009 Women to Watch by Crain’s Detroit Business Magazine, a 2010 Women of Excellence by the Michigan Chronicle and recognition by the Michigan Women’s Foundation as one of 25 “Women Making a Difference.”