CELEBRATING the 2025 AWARDEES
BEYA39
2025
by Gale Horton Gay
BEYA WINNER Determined to Show Youth Paths to Success AN ADVOCATE FOR STEM EDUCATION
RONALD L. JOHNSON, ED.D. advocates for science,
technology, engineering, and math (STEM) exposure and education. Challenges have long motivated him to excel and, in turn, propel him to achievements that he never imagined. Johnson, the 2025 Black Engineer of the Year Award (BEYA) winner, has had a stellar career, including serving in the Army for thirty-two years and achieving the rank of major general, becoming the National Basketball Association’s first senior vice president of referee operations, and joining Georgia Tech as an engineering professor. In May 2024, Georgia Tech’s president announced that Johnson was selected as senior vice president of strategic initiatives and chief of staff. Johnson is quick to say his career trajectory occurred through his belief in hard work and always doing his best as well as “being blessed and highly favored.” He adds that while he’s never had a career plan, he’s always had a passion for learning, problemsolving, and exceeding expectations. As a teen growing up in Chicago, Johnson recalls that he had a chip on his shoulder but was a top cadet in the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. Encouraged to apply to West Point, he quipped, “West Point is for punks.” A warrant officer’s reply, “If you don’t think you can make it…” motivated him to apply to the military academy. He was accepted, and though he found the going tough at times, he would not allow himself to fail and face the
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USBE & Information Technology | CONFERENCE 2025 | 49 Years and Counting
“embarrassment” of returning home defeated. Upon graduation, he began his military service without the intention of it lasting for three decades. In addition to his mechanical engineering degree from West Point, Johnson earned master’s degrees in operations research from
“Leading people that look like me [and come] from my background; I was always excited by that.”—Ron Johnson Georgia Tech and strategic planning from the School of Advanced Military Studies. In 2023, he earned a doctoral degree in higher education management and leadership from the University of Georgia. “I was always excited about the challenge of learning,” said Johnson, now seventy. Johnson’s military responsibilities and assignments have been diverse—overseeing multi-billion-dollar budgets, personnel numbering in the tens of thousands, foreign relief and reconstruction efforts, real estate, and environmental programs. Specifically, he assisted in organizing, training, and equipping
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