R. Jesse Johnson

Howdy,

My name is Jesse Johnson and I hail from the small town of Rockport, Texas, where I learned values such as loyalty, honesty and friendliness. After receiving my bachelors in economics from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 2007, I left everything and everyone I ever knew to take a position as a Program Analyst for a company called Exceed Corporation that had a contract to work on-site at the U.S. Department of Labor's (DOL) Office of Trade Adjustment Assistance (OTAA) in Washington, D.C. Within this position, I investigated companies who lay off their workers due to foreign trade impacts (imports, shifts in production, etc.) and provided federal unemployment benefits to those workers affected. Benefits included but are not limited to job retraining, health coverage and unemployment insurance. Currently, I interpret and draft public policy to help our State partners administer the TAA program. During my first weeks there, I headed a team aimed at providing information about OTAA to the DOL's regional offices across the U.S. that led to my full-time hiring by the DOL as a federal employee. Since then I have played major roles in the transformation of OTAA's mission and have also provided economic theories and models to White House officials that were catalysts in OTAA's reauthorization in 2011.

Before moving back to Texas, I was involved in D.C.'s popular intramural sports. Year round I played on four different softball teams, a flag football team and a sand volleyball team. When the opportunity presents itself, I offer guidance and counsel to both youths and the parents of those youths who are coping with Attention Deficit Disorder. Also, a couple times a year I flew down to Texas to help lead fundraising activities for the Marley Memorial Foundation (MMF), a non-profit organization created in memory of Sgt. Gerald Kissling III. The MMF's mission is to raise money for scholarships for young men and women who attend the University of Texas.

And speaking of UT, I am applying for Fall 2016 admission to the Red McCombs School of Business where I plan to work towards an a Texas MBA. Using this degree, I hope to one day own and manage a government relations firm that partners with energy firms who must meet various levels of government regulations.