Payson Johnston

Motivation in Life: to Glorify God in All Things

My Main Calling:
I am a father of 3 great kids and enjoy spending time with my wonderful wife (aka Missy) and kids daily.

Current Calling / Vocation:
I am teaching as an Adjunct Professor at the University of San Francisco, teaching on topics of global distribution, channel management, supply chain management, and sustainable supply chains. I enjoy integrating business ethics and CSR into my teaching and writing as well as the philosophical theological concepts of calling or vocation (i.e. professional). I am also exploring and researching how to integrate these concepts into leadership, management theory, and the supply chain.

My other profession/calling is at a high-tech company in the Silicon Valley. I have held several program management and management positions, have traveled internationally extensively (24 countries to date and I still plan to visit more!), and my current role, is as Senior Manager leading a team in Global Supplier Management. Previously, I created and led a supplier environmental (i.e. sustainability and social responsibility/CSR) team reducing and in some cases eliminating harmful substances from products.

Education:
I took a detour from theological studies (was studying at Reformed Theological Seminary) to complete a MBA (emphasis in management and marketing) at the University of San Francisco (USF). At USF, Dr. Lester Myers introduced me to the concepts of business ethics, virtue ethics, and management as a calling or vocation and I have been researching these areas ever since (both in applied areas such as environmental sustainability or CSR and in more theoretical concepts). Previously, I studied business finance at San Jose State University.

What I am studying/learning today:
I am currently studying for a MA in Systematic and Philosophical Theology from the University of Nottingham. At the same time, I am also supplementing my theology classes with Ethics/Theology classes at the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley, recently taking a Virtue Ethics class from Dr. Lisa Fullam from the Jesuit School of Theology. I plan to pursue the idea of a theology of calling (as in the Latin word vocatio) for my dissertation during the MA program. The theology of calling can be used as a metaethical model for economic/business eth