5 p.m., Student Professional Development Center, Moseley 140
Learn how to take the lead in launching your career in Washington, D.C. Former Washingtonian and current Vice President of Government Affairs for Campbell Soup Kelly Johnston will share stories, insights and connections to help you position yourself for a career working with or for the federal government.
Sponsored by the Student Professional Development Center and Department of Political Science and Policy Studies.
About Kelly Johnston
Kelly Johnston joined Campbell in July 2002 as Vice President-Government Affairs. He coordinates activities and relationships with local, state, federal, and international government legislative and regulatory agencies, as well as the company’s participation in trade associations. He reports to Ellen Oran Kaden, Senior Vice President, Law and Government Affairs.
Previously, Kelly spent nearly 25 years in Washington, D.C., in several leadership positions within the executive and legislative branches of the federal government, politics, and the trade association world. He was Executive Vice President for Government Affairs and Communications at the National Food Processors’ Association (NFPA), serving as chief federal and state legislative and political affairs representative and chief media spokesperson for nearly 6 years.
From 1995 to 1997, he was the Secretary of the U.S. Senate, the Senate’s chief legislative, financial and administrative officer. Kelly has also served as Staff Director of the Senate Republican Policy Committee; Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs in the U.S. Department of Transportation; and chief of staff or press secretary to three different Members of Congress.
Kelly is active within the food industry and in the community. He is a trustee of the New Jersey Agriculture Society. He serves as vice chair of the non-profit Congressional Management Foundation (CMF), which provides management training and services to the U.S. Congress. He serves on the Board of Directors for the New Jersey Food Council (NJFC), representing this group on the state’s obesity prevention task force, “Shaping NJ.” He serves on the board of Convergence, a non-profit group dedicated to bipartisan public policy resolutions. He is a former Chair of both the Canadian American Business Council (CABC), and the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey.
Kelly earned his B.A. degree in Communications in 1976 from the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma, where he has been named to the Alumni Hall of Fame. He attended Georgetown University’s Graduate School of Demography in Washington, D.C. He has guest lectured on politics, government, lobbying and communications at several universities, including Yale University, the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management, and Burlington County College in New Jersey.
He and his wife, Adrienne, live with their two sons in Newtown Square, Pa.